Upheaval (2016 Remake)
by MissDSanti
Summary: When Doctor Neo Cortex creates a female assassin of the same species as the famous hero Crash Bandicoot, chances are that it won't be a simple hide-and-seek game; with only three days to get rid of the marsupial, the assassin has to come up with some slightly unorthodox ways to kill Crash – and she's not doing it alone...
1. The Newcomer

**Author's Note:** So, after four years of not being able to write a decent CB fanfic that I could be mildly satisfied of, and to commemorate Crash's speaking voice, I decided to rewrite my very first finished fanfic, _Upheaval_. A lot of people loved it back in the day but the English was purely terrible, plus the characters in that version are not the same anymore so the plot will be different as well. I'll try to keep it as humorous though, even when I'm not very good at it.

Oh and yes; this story will feature Crash from that _Skylanders Academy_ episode, with the exact same 'Australian' accent and everything (except that he won't shout "Extreme!" every now and then, because even I found that to be as corny as a 90's catchphrase). Therefore, if you're not a fan or can't tolerate this version of the character, please avoid this fanfic at all costs.

Thank you and enjoy :)

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Inside the newly built space station, not too far away from Earth's orbit, the atmosphere had already reached the dangerous point. The more excuses the short-structured scientist gave to validate his failures, the more the self-proclaimed evil voodoo mask Uka Uka was willing to give another tantrum, and this in front of the other scientists and minions, notably Dr. N. Gin, Dr. Nefarious Tropy, Dingodile and Tiny Tiger, who were enough to cover almost entirely the conference table.

"You fools!" Uka Uka scolded to the four winds. "Morons! Nincompoops! Can't you mutton-heads do anything right?! I'm tired of seeing that bandicoot alive without a single scratch ever since he stepped out of that castle!"

"With all my due respect, Uka Uka," Doctor Neo Cortex interfered, swallowing. "He has been scratched, we just hadn't the chance to properly kill-"

"It was a euphemism, you idiot!" He shouted. "Jesus, you all look like your brains are working half the power!"

"Uka Uka!" Trying to convince him, N. Gin crossed his fingers. "P-Please, believe us, we all tried our best... I don't know if it's pure luck or simply improbable physics, but even we scientists don't know how Crash always gets a way to escape our brilliant schemes!"

"I'll tell you why he always gets a way..." Uka Uka approached the table. The scientists, including the minions, all began to swallow even harder upon the thought of the mask turning them into dust with his powerful magic. Instead, he calmly replied. "First, you all take too much time in coming up with overly complicated plans. Why bother creating a specific invention to kill Crash Bandicoot when any of you can simply buy a laser gun and disintegrate him? Second, all of your schemes have more flaws than a broken control remote. For a bunch of scientists with extremely high I.Q.s, you guys are anything but straightforward."

"It's not our fault that Cortex decided to create a failure of a general, either," N. Tropy cut in, his arms folded. "And all because he didn't feel like listening to N. Brio who, at the time, knew that the Cortex Vortex wasn't ready to be tested yet. I say in my own defense and everyone else in this room, that Cortex should be the one to take care of his own problem _alone_."

Not surprisingly, the rest of the crew – except Tiny who obviously wasn't smart enough to understand the conversation – cheered up loudly and raised their hands in support. In response, Cortex slowly drowned in his own chair, thinking of the high possibility that he was going to die in complete humiliation.

"Since everyone in this room voted for Cortex to finish the bandicoot by himself," Uka Uka spoke. "Then I'll be honored to finally kick him out of this base."

"Wait!"

Despite not being allowed to counter the votes, Cortex won the courage to take a deep breath and give his opinion. Everyone then shut their mouths, albeit against their will, and let the yellow-skinned scientist to speak up.

The mask sighed in annoyance. "What do you have to say in your defense, Cortex?"

"Uka Uka," Cortex began, his hand carefully placed on his chest. "I know I've failed countless times in the past, and I know that I'll keep failing more unfortunately, but the truth is... I've recently created _yet_ another invention."

"Here we go again..." Dingodile sneered.

"You're five seconds away from being thrown without a space suit towards Earth and just now you're telling me that you've done another useless creation of yours?!" Uka Uka's temper began to rise. "What is it this time? Another Crash Bandicoot clone? A clone of you purposely created for this timeline so that you can save your skin by jumping into another dimension?"

"Close, but not quite." Much to the mask's confusion, Cortex smirked. He picked up what seemed to be some sort of control remote from his lab coat's pocket, and pushed the button. Moments later, a cryogenic chamber appeared in everyone's eyes; their expressions suddenly turned to shock when they realized that the newest creation was, in fact, _another_ bandicoot. Female, her fur color was black with medium-sized auburn hair; she apparently had a short tail, which was unusual for evolved bandicoots, and her facial features were also shorter than Crash's. Her claws were long and sharp; her body shape was elegant and almost weightless, and her eyes were brown instead of the common green seen in her brothers and sisters. And last but not least, she was wearing a jet-black, fully-clothed assassin outfit with the "N" insignia on her belt. When she was finally defrosted and walked out of the door, she put her hands on her hips, looking at the crowd as if they were a bunch of flies.

"Meet Amelia," Cortex smiled. "A southern brown bandicoot who was successfully evolved by the Evolvo-Ray."

"That's... that's not possible." Uka Uka stuttered. "I refuse to believe that the same idiot who created Crash Bandicoot just decided to create another one of the exact same species just to eliminate the first one!"

"It's like déjà vu," Dingodile remarked. "Y'know, with Crunch? Like when he was also totally evil until he turned good in the end?"

"I can safely assure you that this is not case." Cortex said proudly.

"How?" Uka Uka insisted. "There's absolutely no difference between her and Crunch when it comes to the brainwashing process!"

"Ah hah, but there is!" He grinned, pointing his finger upward. "And the little difference that resides in those two is no other than the fact that Amelia didn't even need to subject herself to the Cortex Vortex."

"Impossible!"

"You blatant liar!" N. Tropy gritted his teeth.

"Oh, so you don't believe me." Cortex chuckled. "That's alright; I already knew that you guys wouldn't buy another word coming from my mouth."

"Get HIM!"

Furious at his ludicrous statements, the crew jumped from their chairs and ran towards the short scientist, while Uka Uka stood afloat watching. Realizing their intentions, Amelia also ran towards them and began to kick every single one, from ordinary kicks to punches and even straight-out scratching with her bare claws. In the end, though, it was pretty obvious that she won the fight.

Uka Uka had no choice but to give in. "Alright, alright! If you're still delusional about defeating Crash with this creature, go ahead! But just remember one thing, Cortex..." His tone changed from despair to threat. "You only have three days to get rid of the rat."

Cortex didn't seem to change his attitude whatsoever. "Or else...?"

"Or else I'll throw you to the ice age again and leave you trapped in there forever. Sounds good to you?"

He looked at the coldly-staring Amelia before closing the deal. "Perfect."


	2. Assassin Lady

**Chapter 2**

The night was calm. On the North Sanity Island, or simply N. Sanity Island, the old hut that was known as the house of Crash Bandicoot and his siblings was still located in the island's shore, right behind the beach. Sand, rocks and plenty of vegetation were the main features of N. Sanity Beach, despite the fact that the hut was only three miles away from the densest jungle and another ten miles before it could reach the third largest mountain in the Tasmanian Islands.

At home, everything was occurring normally. In the living room, where there was the old fireplace with a few photographs above it of Crash and his ex-girlfriend Tawna, his jet board placed on the wall and a round window on the opposite corner, it turned out that Crash and Crunch Bandicoot were peacefully watching TV while sitting on the couch. The slightly broken television set, which not only was from the mid 90's but was also offered to the bandicoots by N. Brio for helping him a few years earlier, seemed to work quite decently with only a couple of interferences every now and then on the analog screen. At such hour of the night, ironically, they were laughing at a show which revolved around a group of grown men doing all kinds of practical pranks.

"I'm still not sure if these guys are brilliant or stupid." Crunch remarked, leaning against the couch with his non-metallic arm.

"That's an easy answer, don't ya think?" Crash smiled, his thick Australian voice echoing throughout the room. "Of course they're both."

"It was a rhetorical question, ya dummy." He rolled his eyes.

Then, at that precise moment, an episode showed one of the guys sitting on a jet ski, shouted his name to the audience before speeding up through a path of water, and eventually jumped into a bush while the rest of the group laughed maniacally.

Crash tried to keep his breath from laughing so much. "That was a good one!"

"Yeah," Crunch smirked. "So this is how you broke Coco's jet ski, am I right?"

In a split second, Crash froze. "Huh... I was young and reckless, okay?"

" _Young_?" Crunch snorted. "That was like, what, three years ago!"

"Yes, but as I said, I used to be _more_ reckless. I'm not like that anymore."

"You blatant liar."

"Hey, don't tell me that you don't remember us doing stunts like those guys."

"Us? You mean _you_."

"Okay, aside from Coco's jet ski, what else did I break, hmm?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Nothing," Crunch shrugged. "Although I still remember you picking up a shoe with your mouth from a hole you dug in the sand and chasing Cortex through the woods because you thought he was Coco."

Crash frowned at the remembrance. "You're no help, you know what–"

"BOYS!"

The two males jumped from their seats before laying their eyes on the angry individual. Coco Bandicoot was standing at the entrance of the room with her arms folded; she was wearing a white robe, white make-up spread on her face with two lemon slices placed on her eyelids, and her blond hair was arranged into a bun rather than into her usual ponytail. If neither of the two bandicoots sitting on the couch got scared by the shout, then they most likely got scared by their sister's appearance instead.

"Coco, you scared us!" Crunch scowled.

"With all my due respect, sis," Crash, oblivious, aimed his index finger at her. "You look like you came straight out of a horror movie."

Crunch immediately turned his head to look at his younger brother with a disbelief expression on his face, but Coco, surprisingly, didn't seem to be affected by his witty remark. "Very funny," she laughed in a sarcastic manner, and finally removed the lemon slices from her eyelids. "Seriously, guys; it is one hour in the morning, don't you think it's already time to hop into bed?"

"Yeah, you're right..." Crunch sighed, a hint of tiredness shown in his voice. "Crash and I spent so much time watching crappy shows on TV that even we lost the track of time."

"I know; I heard your laughter all the way across the room." She half-closed her eyes.

"Sorry about that, sis." Crash gave his apology with a friendly smile, while Crunch picked up the control remote that was lying on the green carpet to turn off the TV. He then jumped from the couch and stretched out his arms with a yawn. "Well, time to go to sleep."

"Oh, now you're sleepy..." Crunch sneered.

Whether it was habit or not, Crash easily ignored the muscular bandicoot's remark, and walked until the entrance where his sister was standing. "Good night, Coco."

"Good night, big brother." She yawned. It was a good thing that she hadn't lost her sleep yet.

Before he could go upstairs to go to his bedroom, or in this case, the attic, Crash looked at Crunch one last time, since he was finally exiting the living room after hours of mindless entertainment.

"Night, Crunch."

He gave him a thumbs-up and everyone went to their respective rooms.

* * *

Aku Aku was restless. At the Hyperspace Temple, where he had spent the last twenty-four hours trying to disclose the source of a highly negative energy that had suddenly come out of nowhere, the witch doctor was getting overwhelmed with worry. Not only he didn't know where the source had come from, but he also was trying to discover who was going to be its first victim – he had such knowledge about spirits and all kinds of energies that if a particular one was able to put him in a stress of that degree, then it was because it wasn't a good sign at all.

The only good news he could interpret as somewhat blessing was that his evil twin brother Uka Uka or any of the Elementals wasn't there. The Elementals have been banished from the temple soon after Crunch was released from Cortex's control, and Uka Uka, especially, was too busy planning evil schemes to take over the world along with Cortex and the gang, although it was one of those quirks of his that Aku Aku never really understood. What was so great or gratifying about taking over Earth and make billions of people suffer under his power? But aside from that philosophical question, which didn't really matter or even help him to be honest, Aku Aku was trying his hardest to go back into action and prevent the next big disaster... if he could stop thinking so desperately about a solution for the problem.

And then it hit him like a wall of bricks: the last time he had an argument with Uka Uka, which happened around forty-eight hours ago, he told Aku Aku that he had had enough with Cortex spending too much time in his laboratory coming up with meaningless experiments instead of actually making his world domination plans come to fruition.

Sure, Cortex had a tendency to have his head in the clouds and not jump automatically into world domination, but the "spending too much time in his laboratory" detail was the light bulb he needed.

Of course he sent someone else to kill Crash.

* * *

It was three in the morning, and Crash was still open-eyed.

It was very unusual. Nothing in that peaceful night could have possibly disturbed his sleep cycle, and Crash was never an anxious mutant to begin with. He did manage to fall asleep once or twice, but each time he did, he would always wake up with a halt, as if his brain suddenly decided to put him in alert mode for whatever reason. Nonetheless, Crash didn't seem too worried about his inability to sleep.

Still lied down on his comfortable hammock, which was suspended between two walls with a round window behind it, Crash was so bored out of his mind that he let both of his arms touch the wooden floor and began counting sheep as a desperate measure to fall asleep again, but not even that was working. He soon gave up and sat on the hammock with his knees close to his chest, only to turn his green-apple eyes at the clear sky through the window's glass.

"It sure is a beautiful night..." he said, absent-minded.

Moments later, his ears caught what seemed to be movements. Crash's attention then turned to this unknown presence that unexpectedly began to bother him, and even though he couldn't detect anything out of place inside the attic – since it was thankfully illuminated by the full moon – Crash continued to walk quietly. He extensively scanned the whole area, only to find nothing but dust on old furniture...

...Until he encountered a pair of brown eyes lurking in the shadows.

 _BANG!_

Before he could even say a simple 'ow', Crash got hit in the head by a piece of wood and fell to the floor. Fortunately, the attacker didn't hit him hard enough to make him unconscious, so he instinctively turned his chin up to take a better look at his opponent, and stood shocked at what he saw.

The attacker was a bandicoot.

"What is your problem, mate?" Crash demanded, with his ears against his skull as a response to threat.

"Not _your_ business."

The hyena-like voice caught him off guard, but at the same time made him realize something – it sounded like a feminine voice. While the attacker was trying to remove a knife that, quite ironically, got stuck in their belt, Crash studied their features – aside from the fact that they were wearing a jet-black assassin suit with a mask to hide their snout, the familiar "N" insignia on their belt and the obvious physical differences he and they had as a species, they also had a slender figure, accentuated hips, long sharp claws, eyelashes...

Not only she worked for Cortex, she was also a _lady_.

As soon as she got hold of the knife, Crash rolled to the side in order to run away from her, but she was so fast and agile that she managed to kick him towards the floor once more, seizing him with one of her arms around his neck while the other was holding the knife.

Crash tried to buy some time by starting a futile conversation. "Hey, huh, assassin lady... may I ask why are you even trying to kill me in the first place?"

She growled; indeed, he wasn't exactly Mr. Casanova.

Desperate to save his life, Crash used his legs to push the assassin away from him and enjoyed the slim opportunity to run downstairs, although he did fall through the stairs by the end because of the adrenaline. So much so that he didn't feel any pain, as he just kept running towards the round entrance door, which was also made of wood, as he frantically tried to open it in order to save his own fur from her wrath.

"Please don't fail on me now, please don't fail on me now, please don't fail on me now–"

As Amelia reached the end of the stairs and jumped all the way towards the orange bandicoot with the same knife that had a shiny, razor-sharp blade grasped in her hand, Crash turned his head at her.

He screamed.

Whether it was God's pity or purely luck, Crash was quick enough to lower his head and Amelia struck her knife into the wooden door, which gave him the time he needed to open it and flee as fast as he could. When he ran into the jungle and turned his head back to see if he was still being followed, there she was chasing him at full speed, almost like a cheetah, and after five minutes of nothing but straight-out running, Crash had no choice but to give up.

With all of his energies completely drained, Crash weakly walked up to a palm tree and leaned against its trunk in order to breathe. For a brief period – as in just a minute – the assassin disappeared, only for her to return unmasked to show a smirk on her face, as she approached Crash and touched his throat with the tip of her blade.

"Sweet dreams, bandicoot." She softly said, with malice clearly shown in her voice, as Crash dropped his ears in hopelessness before closing his eyes.

"Crash!"

Hearing his family's calls from the distance was truly the light at the end of the tunnel, but for Amelia, it was time to disappear again, as she left an untouched Crash no more or less. Feeling exhausted and with his hand now placed on his throat, he watched the sneaky assassin vanishing into the dense jungle.

"Crash! Crash, where are you?"

"Over here!"

He knew they wouldn't find him in there, so Crash walked all the way to the beach in order to meet them. Coco, Crunch and even Aku Aku appeared soon after, unmistakably concerned about his health, as they couldn't restrain themselves from coming up with a million questions.

"Crash, what happened? Are you hurt?" Coco was so worried that she even placed her hand on her chest because of her heartbeat.

"What was that scream about?" Crunch asked. "And what happened to the door? Did Rusty Walrus just come in or did you sleepwalk?"

"Guys," Crash tried to reassure them. "I'm fine, but you have no idea what just happened this whole time – I was attacked by an assassin lady!"

"Who?" Coco raised an eyebrow, dumbfounded.

"You were attacked by a sin?" Crunch frowned.

"No, it was an _assassin_ who happened to be a lady! And the worst part is that she was one of us, too!"

"In what context?" He inquired.

"She was a bandicoot, and she worked for Cortex! The reason why I'm absolutely sure of that – well, aside from the obvious fact that she tried to kill me with a knife – is that she had an uppercase "N" on her belt."

"I knew it." To everyone's surprise, Aku Aku spoke. "I knew it was going to happen... I am so sorry, Crash. I tried to warn you, or at least prevent the situation from happening, but I simply couldn't make it in time."

"It's okay, Aku." Crash tiredly smiled. "You tried your best. At least I ended up intact."

"Barely." Upon hearing that remark, Coco angrily elbowed Crunch.

"On the other hand..." Crash started, thoughtful. He then gave up on the idea for thinking it was pointless, but Aku Aku persuaded him to keep talking.

"What is it, Crash?"

"The assassin might be a bandicoot like the rest of us, but at the same time... she was different. For starters, she had slick black fur, something I've never seen before, her ears and snout were smaller than mine and she had a tail. I always thought that we were the only mutated bandicoots in this island."

"Clearly something's not right." Crunch agreed.

"We have to investigate," Coco added. "Not only to know where she came from, but also to assure your and everyone else's safety. If that lady was hired by Cortex to murder you, she won't stop, unless she was brainwashed in the same way as Crunch."

"Correct, Coco." Aku Aku nodded. "If we're ever able to break the brainwashing process, if that happens to be her case, Crash will be out of danger. But until then, we have to be vigilant."

"Tell me about it..." Crash sighed, fatigued. His night might have sucked in every sense of the word, but at least he was grateful to receive a comfort hug from Coco.


	3. Villainous Talk

**Chapter 3**

Back at the space station, an angry Amelia stormed off all the way to the conference room, her footsteps making loud noises as a way to show her annoyance. The female bandicoot had just arrived to the station two minutes prior, and she was already being called by Dr. Cortex through the speakers – apparently it wasn't a very good idea to report to her boss that her first mission failed miserably right in the middle of the night, but then again, he was insomniac so who knew how long that man hadn't had some decent sleep ever since he put the world domination concept into his head.

It was already 4 a.m. when Amelia finally appeared. As soon as the automatic door opened vertically and swiftly, everyone in the room looked like if they had been frozen in time. Dr. Nefarious Tropy was playing poker with Dr. N. Gin, Dingodile was reading a quite interesting yet controversial magazine, Tiny Tiger was staring at the wall for no reason other than watching a fly, and last but not least, Dr. Neo Cortex was obviously waiting for his subordinate's return with a very displeased look on his face and crossed fingers upon the table, with Uka Uka watching behind him.

"You have disappointed me, Amelia." He spoke, his voice sounding amazingly dull. The assassin was no expert, but she guessed that the short-structured scientist got so furious at the news that he exploded and consumed all of his energy to yell at the other scientists. Good thing she wasn't there. "What do you have to say in your defense?"

"Defense?" Amelia raised an eyebrow. "I already told you, the plan was occurring perfectly until Crush's family – or whatever his name is – showed up. I couldn't risk jeopardizing the mission by accidentally revealing myself."

"It's _Crash_ Bandicoot, you fool!" Unexpectedly, Cortex shouted. "And why were you so worried about jeopardizing your own mission if you failed it in the first place? I don't care if his stupid little family sees you, I wanted that bandicoot dead!" He hit his fist against the table.

"Calm down, Cortex." Uka Uka intervened, clearly tired of his usual tantrums. "If you stopped letting your hormones go through your brain for once, she actually might be right. We all know that she failed the mission, but it would have been much worse if she revealed herself to the other nosy bandicoots."

"You seem to forget something, Uka Uka..." Cortex added. "Crash may be absent-minded at times, but he's not stupid. He will tell them what she looked like and where she came from, so in the end, all of my future plans are now doomed. And all thanks to _you_!"

In the moment Cortex aimed an accusing finger at Amelia, everyone in the conference room suddenly remembered that they were having a meeting and also pointed their fingers at her, except for Dingodile, who was too busy admiring far more interesting pictures.

"Yeah, shame on you." The hybrid nonchalantly remarked.

She gritted her teeth at him before turning her nose at Cortex. "Well then; if you think this was the worst plan ever conceived in this entire universe that had the misfortune to end up this badly even when it wasn't _my_ fault, then what's the new one, genius?"

"I'm glad you asked." Cortex smirked. "You are going to be sent to Crash's house the following night."

"Again?!"

"Yes, but not to waste your time painting your claws," he waved his hand dismissively, which made Amelia scowl at him. "This time, you are going to bring him alive to this space station."

"Oh, now you don't want him dead?" She scoffed. "No wonder your plans are all over the place."

"I'm not done talking!" He shouted again. "My scheme is to imprison the bandicoot so that I can keep an eye on him, since you, my dear, failed to do the only thing you're actually good at. Then, I'll subject him to my recently rebuilt Cortex Vortex to see if it's still possible to break his mind immunity, but in case it doesn't work, I'll personally finish him with my ray gun. And only then I'll be finally able to continue my world domination plans."

"Wow, I'm impressed." Amelia said sarcastically. "And you honestly thought you could do all of that within three days before you are disintegrated by Uka Uka?"

"Of course," Cortex proudly responded. "After all, I'm not an ordinary scientist, so I have the right to come up with every single plan."

His ego was so big that even the mighty Uka Uka let out a faint groan of annoyance. However, Amelia didn't seem to be stressed by her boss' narcissism. "I really hate to break up your wild imagination, Cortex, but that wonderful plan of yours is also doomed to fail."

He suddenly stopped smiling. "Listen here," his tone changed to a menacing one. "You are my minion. You have no voice in the matter because you are on the same level as Crash – you may be working for me, but as soon as this mission's over, you are going back to where you came from in a split second."

"You seem to be forgetting something, darling." In order to threaten him, Amelia showed her fangs through a sinister smile. "If you evolved me in the first place, it's because you weren't being able to defeat Crash with your own hands. So, by definition, if you eliminate me in your way, Crash is going to triumph like he did all those times before. Besides, that new "brilliant" plan you just thought for as little as five minutes isn't going to work because Crash has proven to get out of a prison cell in the past. I know that because I've seen his reflexes while I was trying to murder him – they were fast, and his thought process also seemed to be quite complex for a mutant you consider as inferior."

Uka Uka had to shake his wooden face to make sure he was hearing correctly. "Damn, she's right."

"And another thing..." She slowly approached the doctor's face. "As your only assassin in this tiny, dangerous world, who's going to protect your back when you need it, Cortex?"

He gulped, the sweat now showing on his large forehead. "...On second thought, you are entitled to give me at least one of your suggestions."

Her malicious smile soon disappeared. "Thank you. Now, the plan I'm going to tell you might be a little too elaborate, but to me, this is the best way to lure your worst enemy without having any shortcomings. You warned me the probability that the so-called Crash Bandicoot told his family what I looked like, correct?"

"Yes."

"Therefore, if I go to his house in plain daylight, they will attack me... unless I use a potion to make them forget the last twenty-four hours."

The evil mask became intrigued, albeit distrustful. "That doesn't make any sense. Why make them drink a potion just to attack a five foot bandicoot?"

"You haven't heard the highlight yet, Uka Uka." She explained. "As soon as they show symptoms of temporary amnesia, I will also poison Crash by pouring another potion into his Wumpa fruit... only this time, it's a love potion."

Cortex burst out laughing. "See, Uka Uka? I told you that pesky females would get anything but the point of the–" He halted when he saw Amelia opening up her long, sharp claws. "Keep going."

"However, it's not an ordinary love potion; it is so concentrated that all it takes to take effect is to take one single bite – Crash faints, wakes up a few minutes later, and then he'll "fall in love" with the very first person his eyes lie upon, which will be me."

"What happens next?" Uka Uka asked.

"The rest is pretty easy to figure out. His family won't get suspicious at who this new girl is, or if they do for a little bit, Crash will still defend me due to the effects of the drug. It's a shame that he will never return to his normal self again, because by then, he's already dead."

"Did you two suddenly forget about Aku Aku?" Cortex remarked. "He's a freaking mask, he can't drink the potion. Plus, he'll prevent you from getting there."

"That's when my plan A comes to place," Amelia smirked. "Uka Uka will take care of him."

"Yeah... I can imprison my twin brother at the Hyperspace Temple by creating a force field." The pleasure of getting revenge was strongly present in his voice.

"And I'll be finally able to know my assigned enemy a little bit... better." She ran her finger through her chin in a contemplative, perverse manner. The henchmen obviously noticed this, but the first one to actually break the silence was Tiny Tiger for a change.

"Heh heh, she having naughty ideas." He laughed like a pervert.

"Not in _that_ way, you imbecile!" Offended, Amelia slapped Tiny as hard as she could, making him fall from his chair like someone had pushed an anvil towards the floor. Due to his limited intelligence, however, he simply stood staring at her awkwardly.

"Tiny is hurt..." he rubbed his cheek.

Uka Uka watched the event from afar and began whispering to Cortex's ear. "I like this new minion of yours. She seems to embrace evil."

"You don't say..." he sneered, most likely from jealousy, and folded his arms.

* * *

At Neo Cortex's relocated laboratory, on the other side of the space station, Doctor Nitrus Brio spent the next hour giving the finishing touches to the two requested potions. Inside the lab there was Amelia, who had the decency to wait until both potions were mixed correctly, as she patiently leaned against the wall next to the door. With her arms crossed, the assassin attempted to follow the scientist's cautious handling with all sorts of chemicals, but no matter how hard she tried, she was still having trouble understanding how in the world a meek man like N. Brio had the capacity to grip those powerful substances so professionally without ever opening his mouth. Her perspective on how appearances weren't deceiving apparently was wrong.

At last, Brio picked up the two thin test-tubes in his hands and called Amelia to come closer to start his enlightenment, but the female bandicoot was the first to speak up her mind. "They don't smell?"

"N-No," he began stuttering. "Now listen carefully; both of these potions are colorless, so I labeled them to avoid confusion. In order to open them, you have to remove these plastic plugs, so you can carry them wherever you wish without spilling them out."

"What about the flavor?" She asked. "Won't they find the taste a bit unpleasant?"

"The amnesic potion might make their food taste a little funny, or, more specifically, sweet, but when it comes to the love potion, Crash might feel that his favorite fruit tastes a little... sour. I tried to make it as unnoticeable as possible, and it depends from individual to individual, but either way, all it takes to take effect is one bite."

"And may I ask what exactly did you put in the love potion?" Amelia inquired suspiciously as she pointed at the respective test-tube. "I don't want that meddling bandicoot to go as far as sniffing my hair or anything; I just want him to feel sufficiently attracted to me so that I can kill him later."

"Don't worry; all I did was inserting an adequate amount of a very special hormone..."

"Testosterone?"

"No, oxytocin, also known as the "love hormone". I also put a good amount of dopamine to make him feel happy being around you without engaging in sexual activity, and then I mixed those two hormones together with the amnesiac potion, which I'm not going to tell you the ingredients."

"I don't really care." Amelia half-closed her eyes, uninterested. "Are you absolutely sure that it will work?"

"Well, I suppose so... I can't do much beyond this point. Oh, and before I forget, the effects from both potions will wear off within twelve hours."

"Just the time I need." She smirked. "Thanks for doing this for me, Brio. I'm still wondering why Cortex treated you so unfairly, though."

"I-I guess he doesn't like me." He shrugged. "I don't why; I even perfected his faulty Evolvo-Ray when we began our world domination plans..."

Amelia studied the scientist's strange melancholy. "If you know that Cortex is an egocentric idiot, then why are you still his assistant?"

"I had nowhere to go," he answered. "It's easy to hate our boss, but if we get out of a job, we won't have enough money to pay our bills or even rent a house. So I had no choice but to go back to him... as much as that cost me. Anyway, there's no time to lose, so take these potions with you and get out of here."

After N. Brio finally handed the two test-tubes to her, Amelia watchfully exited the lab and placed the objects into a satchel, before she headed towards her spaceship.

* * *

 **A/N:** Now you know why this story is rated T. *Wink*


	4. The Forbidden Fruit

**Chapter 4**

10:15 a.m. That was what the clock-hands were showing in the moment Coco was having breakfast in the incredibly small kitchen, which was right next to the stairs. Being the first one to wake up, although remarkably she was able to sleep relatively well after what had happened last night, Coco couldn't stop contemplating. She was holding a white mug with warm coffee in her hands for minutes, something she would never notice whenever she was lost in thought, as her elbows were still upon the picnic table. Despite that, her worry remained visible in her dark circles and messy hair, even when she had already arranged it into her trademark ponytail, and the fact that she barely sipped any coffee at all.

It was only when the eldest brother of the family, Crunch, entered the kitchen quietly and placed a friendly metal hand on her shoulder that she woke up from her thoughts. "Crunch," she startled. "You scared me."

"Sorry, Coco." He apologized. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"I am," she sighed. "I'm just worried about Crash... do you think he'll be able to get over the incident?"

"Knowing him myself, I'm positively convinced that he will forget what actually happened in the next few days."

Seconds later, another figure appeared at the entrance of the kitchen, this time being Crash himself. His sclerae was slightly red, which noticeably indicated lack of sleep, as he stood looking at his siblings like he had seen a ghost. It took him a few moments to snap into reality and walk towards his chair in order to sit on it, his facial expression as impassive as a statue.

"Good morning, big brother." Coco tried to hide her anxiety by giving him the biggest yet the most fake smile she could get. "Did you get some rest?"

"I had a nightmare." He finally spoke, but his voice was so distant that it looked like his soul had already deserted his body. "I dreamed that the assassin lady managed to get into my room without making a sound and murdered me mercilessly... by giving me the kiss of death."

Out of a sudden, the kitchen fell into this long, awkward silence, where both Coco and Crunch's expressions turned from normal to complete perplexity.

"Was it good?"

"Crunch!"

"Oh come on Coco," Crunch said. "How many times did Crash almost die and he never did by some miracle? By this point, he might as well be Saint Michael."

"Thanks for the compliment, mate." Crash shrugged, since he had no idea who Saint Michael was. "But that doesn't change the fact that there's a psychotic lady out there who desperately wants to kill me."

"Then get a pitchfork, they're effective."

"Can you two _please_ stop being stupid?" Irritated, Coco intervened. "It's bad enough that we have a serial killer on the loose, we don't need any more bickering involving which farming tool is the best defensive weapon."

"You're right." Crunch gave in. "We have to keep our heads cool in order to solve this problem."

"You're lucky that she isn't planning to kill either of you," Crash continued. "At first I underestimated her for being, well, a woman, but I've never been so scared in my life when I started running away from her. She was the closest I experienced from being chased by the Devil, if I ever saw one."

"That's why you should never underestimate us." Coco nodded affirmably. "Who knows what she's going to do next..."

"Well, if she gave Crash a kiss of death, maybe she's planning to give him a box of poisoned chocolates."

"Don't give her any ideas." He frowned at Crunch.

Soon after they ended the conversation, the spiritual witch doctor Aku Aku also showed up at the kitchen through the outer door. By the look on his wooden face, he seemed rather despondent.

"I spent all night searching throughout the island," he said. "There are no signs of Doctor Cortex's assassin anywhere. The only place where she's able to hide temporarily would be inside Cortex's new space station, since his castle got destroyed years ago."

"They already built another space station?" Crunch raised an eyebrow. "Damn, they're fast."

"Now that I think of it, I still have my old spaceship somewhere in the garage." Coco remarked. "Unfortunately it's a little tight in terms of space since I was younger back then, but I can do a few modifications here and there."

"I really appreciate your goodwill help, Coco." Aku Aku faintly smiled. "However, it is no use to go to the space station. Doctor Cortex might arrest us immediately upon sight, and I don't want to take any risks."

"But if we wait here like nothing happened, the assassin is going to take the golden opportunity to murder Crash." Crunch opposed.

"That's why I'm asking you to leave this subject to me." The mask declared. "I still have the power to stop her while I can. The least Crash can do is to keep an eye on his surroundings and report any strange occurrences immediately so that we can join our forces together in order to defeat her."

"Sounds like a good plan." Crash nodded. "After all, four against one is certainly a win-win, right?"

"I hope so, Crash..." Aku Aku trailed off. He wanted to assure the three bandicoots that everything would quickly return to normality, but the feeling of imminent danger was too much to ignore. Nevertheless, the witch doctor made sure to conceal his fears as deep as he could before looking at them one last time. "I have to get going, children. I'll be guarding the coastline, but remember to stay close to your house; N. Sanity Island might be tiny, but there are many places where the enemy can lurk for the attack. Please be safe."

"You can count on us, Aku Aku." Crunch affirmed with a smile, which was unusual from him. Somewhat relieved, the spiritual mask then retreated to his position and the bandicoots proceeded to eat the rest of the breakfast, only for Coco to break the silence once again five minutes later.

"Now that we aren't allowed to leave the house, what are we gonna do to spend the time, guys?"

"How about fixing the door?" Crash winked, with the toolbox ready in his hand.

* * *

While floating along the seashore, an observant Aku Aku centered all of his focus in finding minor disturbances, but the island was so peacefully quiet that it seemed like yesterday's occurrence had never even took place. Even though the mask hadn't the power to possess any of the five senses that were essential to every living creature, he couldn't help but try to feel in his mind the coldness of the brine water, especially the beauty it carried to the general view of N. Sanity Beach. The waves were calm; the aromatic yet distinctive smell of the ocean was strongly present, there was no wind, and the sun was already heating the sand ever since its rise into the sky. It was eons ago since the last time he had the blessing to feel physically any of these elements, way back when he was still human and was a member of his own tribe...

Half hour after he last spoke to the bandicoots, the mask slowly drifted away from his distant memories and finally began to suspect the likelihood of someone watching him up close – a quite familiar yet out of the ordinary presence that only he was able to recognize from afar. Negative energies suddenly overwhelmed the mask, as his emotions went from attentive and solemn to merely shock.

"No, it cannot be..."

Barely as he whispered, the infamous yet commanding Uka Uka appeared right in front of him, almost in a blink of an eye, with the most malevolent grin ever placed on his face.

"Hello, my feeble brother."

Aku Aku wasn't determined in buying his lies. "What do you want, Uka Uka?"

"I see you are guarding the island." He smirked. "How thoughtful of you..."

"Is this another scheme you've been planning with Doctor Cortex? I know you way too well to even try convincing me otherwise, Uka Uka."

"I'm not trying to convince you," he said, a hint of mockery implied in his deep voice. "Rather, I'm _taking_ you out of here."

Caught off guard, Aku Aku rapidly moved away from him and attempted to protect himself by using his sorcery, but he failed to remember the fact that his twin brother's evil magic was more powerful that his healing powers. Uka Uka laughed at the foolishness of his older sibling and removed all the remaining control he had of his own magic, imprisoning him in the exact same spot.

"You can't run away from me, brother..." his smile grew wider. "You have to do exactly as I say, or you'll never be free."

"And if I refuse your proposal?"

"There are no refusals." He warned. "If you dare to act stubborn towards me, I will destroy you without hesitation and leave your precious little family grieving the death of their father figure... or the other way around, if you prefer."

"No, Uka Uka, please." Aku Aku implored. "I'll do anything as you wish; just please... don't do them any harm."

"How do I know that you're not fooling me?" Uka Uka persisted, his impatience and suspicion mixed into one single tone. Aku Aku took a slow, defeated breath before confronting his brother in a more mature way.

"...Because it is my duty to protect them, even if it requires my death."

A small grin was drawn in Uka Uka's lips. "That's more like it. Now let's drop this lame subject and follow me; I have a surprise for you..."

* * *

"There. Brand as new."

As soon as Crash was done using the hammer and proudly announced his hard work, Crunch approached the outer door to see the result personally. As to be the expected, the burgundy bandicoot raised a skeptical eyebrow instead of actually giving a compliment.

"You took an entire hour just to put a piece of wood into the gap?" He remarked, both astonished and annoyed.

"I had a few... what's the word... ah, difficulties." Despite his brother's disapproval, Crash optimistically justified his excuse, and aimed his index finger at a palm tree nearby. "See that tree over there? I cut off a piece from its trunk that apparently was too big to fit inside the gap, so I had to remove it from the door with the hammer and cut yet another smaller piece."

Crunch studied the palm tree one more time. "Thank god you're not a real carpenter," he scoffed. "Otherwise that tree would've been dead by now."

"Crash! Crunch!" Calling from inside the hut, Coco walked to them. "Is the door already fixed?"

"See it for yourself." Crash offered, and Coco finally looked at the repairs, only for her to take a few silent moments and realize that something was missing.

"Not bad," she bit her lip, pensive. "Although it could use some painting... the piece you introduced in there makes the door look distracting because of the different woods."

"You think?" He looked at his sister. "Well then, not a problem. Hey Crunch, do we have any paint in the garage?"

"There's only a bucket with green paint." He folded his arms.

"Do you think you could get it for me?"

Tired of being his assistant, Crunch rolled his eyes and walked all the way to the garage – which wasn't even ten feet away from where he was standing – and eventually brought the very same bucket with a paintbrush on top of it, as he nonchalantly dropped it to the ground right in front of Crash.

"Anything else, mademoiselle?"

"No, that is all, thanks." He smiled, oblivious, as Coco discreetly shook her head at her brothers' silly fight.

"Anyway, while you paint the door, I'll be in the kitchen doing lunch." She said.

"Already?" Crash raised his eyebrow. "What time is it?"

"It's noon."

"No wonder my stomach have been making noises..." he remarked. When Crunch and Coco finally went inside and left him alone, Crash removed the lid from the bucket and clutched the paintbrush in order to start painting, and for a few minutes he actually managed to distract himself with the job by whistling to such a warm, beautiful day. Unfortunately, his positive thoughts came to an end when his ears detected once again the movements of a stranger appearing and disappearing behind the bushes – which of course alarmed him. Not wanting to worry his siblings, Crash stopped his activity and quietly closed the bucket with the lid, and only then he adventured into the jungle.

As the unsettling, almost inaudible sounds continued each step he gave forward, Crash cautiously looked at every single direction in an attempt to find the culprit, but his efforts all seemed to go in vain until he reached the beach – and coincidentally discovered a dark-looking figure standing on the sand... waiting for him.

"Greetings, bandicoot." Amelia smiled. For some reason, Crash found absolutely eerie the fact that the assassin lady was actually waiting for him like a decent person instead of trying to murder him like a mad dog.

"You?!" He exclaimed, and soon began to experience anger, although he was nowhere as aggressive as Crunch.

"I just wanted to apologize for what happened to you last night." She attempted sincerity, but the orange bandicoot was too smart to believe in her deceitfulness. "As you already know, I work for Doctor Neo Cortex, and murdering you in your sleep was in fact my first mission, so of course I wasn't willing to fail that."

"You can say that again." Crash retorted.

"But as it turned out, I let you live, and decided that maybe it's best to make amends with your worst enemy... after all, we can't live in a quarrel forever, and I don't even like to work for that yellow midget." She showed her tongue in disgust. "So what would you say if we both agree on this peace treaty and move on, hmm?"

Despite Amelia's seemingly friendly extended arm, Crash didn't accept the handshake. "No," he frowned. "I don't trust you."

"Oh, what a pity..." To show her empathy, Amelia slowly shook her head in disappointment before gazing at her claws. "I was really looking forward to befriend you, but I don't blame your decision; I would've done the same if I were in your shoes."

"You put my health and my family in danger." Crash added. "And you expected me to befriend you no more or less?"

"You've befriended Cortex before."

"That was another circumstance," he said. "If you really want to put this incident aside, then do me a favor and stay far away from my family, do you understand?"

"That's a little extreme, don't ya think?" She raised her eyebrow. "But whatever floats your boat; I'll respect your needs and eventually leave you alone. However..."

In the moment she cut short her speech, Amelia picked up the only Wumpa fruit lying in that area, wiped the few grains of sand with her hand and offered it to Crash, who even was taken aback by her unexpected offer.

"...Before you go, please take this fruit." She gently held the large, juicy Wumpa fruit. "I know I shouldn't assassin on people's business, but since you seemed really hungry, I thought I could be generous for once."

Suspicious, Crash accepted the fruit and studied it warily, from touching it to smell it with his own nose, only to conclude that the fruit seemed rather average. He had reconsidered not to eat the fruit and throw it somewhere else where the assassin couldn't see, but he was so hungry that he thought it would be a wasted opportunity. Not to mention that he was an expert on them, and if the specimen had absolutely nothing wrong, it was because he was over thinking it.

"Thanks mate." He didn't smile, but the fact that he gave her a nod in recognition of her simple action was what Amelia needed to assure herself that the plan was working perfectly, all hidden behind a fake smile.

"You're welcome. Now bug off," she waved her hand to prove her point. "I don't want to see your idiotic face again."

Crash shrugged at her rudeness before taking a bite at last. His hunger was so great that he didn't even notice the slightly sour flavor of the Wumpa fruit; he went so along with it that he took yet another two or three bites when he entered the jungle, but the distortion of his senses soon came to play when he started to feel... dizzy.

"Woah..." walking like a drunk, Crash leaned against a tree due to his lack of balance, the strong headaches now taking over him. "I suddenly feel... sleepy..." he yawned. "I think I'm gonna take... another... nap..."

And he hit the ground in a dead faint.


	5. Love At First Hit

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait, guys. For some reason this chapter in particular has been difficult for me to write, so my apologies if it looks short and crappy.

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

"What's taking Crash so long?"

Starting to get impatient, Coco thought out loud as she gripped the spoon in order to stir the chickpea-tomato ragout inside the cooking pot. Crunch, who was sitting right behind her with his knuckles against his cheek, reading an ordinary magazine with the elbow of his organic arm on the table, was also carefully following the conversation.

"Do you think he got lost somewhere?"

"Nah," Crunch leisurely shook his head. "Believe me, if he was in trouble, Aku Aku would've warned us immediately. Besides, he knows the island like the palm of his hand."

"But he didn't even finish painting the door," Coco pointed out. "He just closed the bucket's lid and left the paintbrush on the top."

"Maybe he got to take a leak." He shrugged.

Not finding his little joke funny, Coco stopped stirring the ragout and turned her face at the burgundy bandicoot, her arms folded.

"Crunch, this is serious."

"You worry too much, Coco." Crunch frowned, his jade green eyes meeting hers. "I already told you, Aku Aku would notify us if something bad happened. Until then, there's nothing to worry about Crash."

Sighing in defeat, Coco turned her back and continued what she was doing before. "You're right," she said, a little despondent. "I worry too much, but I can't help it."

"He will come back, you'll see."

As much as she didn't agree with Crunch's perspective, the fact that he was confident most of the time was enough to ease her a bit, with a faint smile showing that change of mood.

"Thanks, Crunch."

"Don't mention it." He smiled as well. "By the way, is lunch ready? I'm starving."

"It just needs a little bit of spice," she tasted the food with her finger. "I'll go get it."

In the moment Coco left the cooking pot on the stove to pick up a small bottle of chili pepper from the kitchen cabinet, Crunch also got distracted by the magazine and didn't hear the window open up, where a sneaky and inaudible Amelia managed to break into the unguarded hut. Hiding under the table, the assassin studied the attention span of the two bandicoots before she could nimbly creep into the spot Coco used to stand, remove the plastic plug from the amnesic potion and pour the substance into the ragout, and only then she had the chance to warily leave the kitchen.

Just a mere second before the assassin vanished into thin air, Coco returned to her spot and as soon as she dropped a chili pepper into the pot, she felt that something wasn't quite right.

"Crunch, why is the window open?"

Crunch stopped reading and looked up. "Huh, so that's why I was feeling breeze..." he rose up from the chair and closed the round window before showing his suspicions to Coco. "I don't know about you, but I didn't open it."

"It wasn't me either," she shrugged. "Oh well, it's probably nothing." After a few more moments of stirring, Coco grasped the spoon and put it in her mouth to assess the flavor. "Tastes good, but for some reason it tastes kind of sweet... must've been the pepper. Anyway, let's eat."

* * *

"Oww... my head..."

Groaning in pain, Crash opened his eyes with great difficulty. His brain looked like it had a whiplash, considering that he fell backwards, and the palm tree he previously leaned on was just a meter away from him. Aside from the alarming fact that he had no memory of the chain of events that caused his faint, Crash also seemed to fall into the illusion that he was lost on the map – he had no idea why he was close to the beach, he had no idea why he was completely alone, heck, he even had no idea why he left a half-eaten Wumpa fruit on the ground, knowing his eternal thirst for the fruit, or why he was suddenly sick of it.

As soon as he regained total consciousness, Crash raised his torso up so that he could take a look at his surroundings. As he expected, there was no one in that area; fortunately, he didn't forget the island's geography so he knew he wasn't too far from his house either. Using that knowledge to his advantage, the bandicoot immediately stood up and started walking towards the opposite direction to the beach, pushing his doubts about his apparent amnesia for much later until...

 _Oh Crashie..._

That voice. That shrill, hyena-like voice; he had never heard of it before, and yet he cringed at the sound of it, like some kind of unpleasant déjà-vu that got stuck in his brain. Despite that he found another reason to get out of there as soon as possible, alas, the poor bandicoot's perception began to deteriorate so fast to the point that he actually found that type of voice kind of attractive.

"Who's there?"

A snarky laugh was heard. "Don't you remember me?"

And then, this random chick that apparently fell from the heavens, finally appeared from the bushes right in front of Crash's nose; a female bandicoot with slick black fur and auburn hair, as she stroked a pose. Her long-clawed hands were in her hips, as she was still wearing her jumpsuit, but with a black short jacket with long sleeves on top of it, and the N insignia was removed from her belt to hide the obvious evidence that she was working for Cortex. Speechless, Crash stared at this marvelous new creature – which apparently was only five centimeters shorter than him – while trying to remember as hard as he could, but all he got was a blur.

"Huh..."

"Oh, my poor sweet pea." She pityingly shook her head. "You really hit your head too hard, didn't ya?"

"Wait, how do you know that I–"

"It's obvious, dummy," she smiled. "I watched the whole thing; you were surfing on this beautiful hot day until you missed a wave and dragged yourself through the sand all the way to that tree." She pointed at the palm tree that Crash previously leaned on.

He frowned. "If that's the case, then why am I wearing jeans?"

"You were surfing with them."

"Then where's my surfboard?"

"I returned it to the attic while you were unconscious."

"But I don't even have a surfboard."

"Who cares."

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Who else could I be?" Offended, the female marsupial folded her arms. "I'm your girlfriend, Amelia."

Crash's heart stopped beating for a moment. _Girlfriend_? When did all of that happen? Was he in a dream? After all, he was one if not the most well-known hero in the world and yet he had the love life of a bachelor living in his mother's basement, so having a new girlfriend was literally the least thing he expected that week.

"Something's not right..." Crash half-closed his eyes in disbelief. "First and foremost, I have _no_ idea of who you are, since you are as random as one of those tourists that once came into my house. Second, you and I are nothing alike as a species, and third, I still can't remember when we ever hooked up!"

"So?" Amelia raised an eyebrow. "Does it really matter how or when we hooked up? You recently had an accident so it's no surprise why you're unable to remember me." She looked at her claws. "Besides, don't you miss being in a romantic relationship just a little bit?"

The bandicoot was about to counter her argument until he heard the last question; the truth was, despite not being a romantic guy at all, Crash did miss having a life partner, _his_ Tawna. Their relationship didn't end as well as he thought, but he still missed her, and he only ended up accepting his loneliness because of his job, no matter how he obliviously denied that fact. Maybe she could fill that void he had for so long.

"Yeah, I guess..." he lowered his ears. "But why does it matter to you?"

"Why? Because I'm all yours now." With a smirk on her face, Amelia slowly approached Crash in order to start playing with his chin with her sharp claws. "And a handsome hero like you should never be alone."

"Woah, woah, don't go there so fast, will ya?" He nervously chuckled. "You haven't met my family yet."

"We'll meet them later." She swiftly responded. "After all, we have plenty of things to do first."

"Such as...?"

Damn, he was harder than she thought. "...Like taking a stroll through the beach, for example." She gave him the biggest fake smile she could come up with.

Crash reconsidered. He didn't have to go to the nearest library and look up moral standards to know that it wasn't wise to trust a stranger, but at the same time, he felt secure enough around her. It wasn't the first time when he deliberately put his rationality aside in favor of reckless decisions either, and they all ended up well thanks to his aptness for adventure. Besides, a free girlfriend was always a good deal.

"Ah, what the heck," he shrugged. "I already had a free spot anyway, so... let's do it."

* * *

Back at the Bandicoot house, Crunch and Coco were quite unexpectedly having lots of fun. Their lunch had began rather ordinarily, with Coco laying the table and Crunch waiting for her to sit down before he could have the chance to finally enjoy the meal, all fine and dandy until they began to feel strange symptoms similar to those of drunkenness – and they were already on their second round when the height of the side effects of the amnesic potion took place.

"Hey Coco," Crunch spoke, unbalanced in his own chair, as his level-headedness slowly drained away. "What the heck did you put in this ragout that's making me feel this way?"

"I don't know Crunch," she hiccupped. Suffering from hallucinations, both Crunch and Coco were acting a little too happier than usual. "I didn't put anything special; you sure it wasn't _you_ who put the so-called special ingredient?" She jokingly pointed at him.

"What else would I put in there?" He asked. "I stopped taking steroids long ago."

"You used to take steroids?" She frowned.

"Yeah but not for long – they would make my muscles look fake."

"Good point."

"Oh my god..." he gasped. "Coco, I'm seeing Aku Aku!"

"Where?"

"Right in front of you," Crunch aimed at the kitchen clock. "He seems to be dancing and he's wearing that idiotic loincloth from the tribesmen."

"Silly Crunch, can't you see that Aku Aku doesn't have a body?" Coco grinned, half-awake. "If he did, he would've punched Cortex long ago."

"Yeah, it would've been hilarious to see him smack out of that hammer head into space," he remarked. "Plus he has a six-pack."

"Bigger than yours?"

"No, that award still goes to me."

"Don't lie, Crunch." She hiccupped again, pushing her finger against his abs to prove her point, but the brawny bandicoot had his mind so altered that he didn't even feel her touch. "I know you're jealous."

"Jealous?" He scowled. "Why should I be jealous of a mask with no legs?"

"I thought it was his six-pack that we were talking about."

"Whatever."

After a few moments of silence, Coco looked around the kitchen, sleepier than ever. "Hey, do you know where Crash is...?"

"Nope, and I don't care."

"Me neither..." she yawned, and by the time he finally noticed that she was quiet for a while, Coco was already sleeping on the table, with her crossed arms peacefully placed underneath her chin.

Crunch turned his sleepy eyes at the smaller blonde bandicoot. "Not fair, sister; _I_ wanted to get to sleep first."

Seconds later, he fell asleep.


	6. New Girl In Town

**Chapter 6**

The abandoned ruins of the Hyperspace Temple were once the delight of Aku Aku's ancestry, but that day, the very same stone pillars and other structures that composed the temple were nothing short of a meaningless distraction. As he resisted the temptation to look at anything whatsoever but his own brother's fiery eyes, the soulful mask was still trapped within his power, helpless to even stare at the ancient walls without having the picture of the Bandicoot family burning in his mind. The red, evil energy was so strong that only his colored feathers could move slightly due to the kinetic energy; otherwise, he was still floating in the exact same spot for a couple of hours, while staring at his younger brother's triumphant features as his sole consolation.

Uka Uka might've enjoyed the absence of sound every once in a while due to his familiarity with Cortex, but even he was getting tired of the benevolent mask's suffering silence. "What's the matter, my brother? You seem quiet for quite a while."

"I won't talk to you until you release me, Uka Uka."

He chuckled. "Now look who's acting like a child... with that kind of attitude you'll go nowhere, brother. Come on; it's been such a long time since we have been properly reunited. You, being worried about your stupid morals and the welfare of others, and me, worried about conquering the world and being the ruler of everything and everyone..."

"It's that girl, isn't it?" Tired of beating around the bush, Aku Aku went straight to the point. "That assassin from Cortex; she's going to use Crash for her own purposes, isn't she?"

Initially, the evil mask wanted to shut his wooden mouth and give him another stun, but then he would return to square one and undergo the insufferable boredom throughout whole afternoon, or even days. To avoid that, and to play around with Aku Aku's innocent feelings, something he had so long desired to do so as some sort of revenge scheme, had to make him think out of the box.

"Perhaps..." the tone of his voice gave the apprehensive yet hopeful hint to come out in Aku Aku's features. He was going in the right direction. "But why would you want to know? After all, you're imprisoned here with me, and there's virtually no chance of you escaping this temple without the death option. Of course, you already died, but you know what I mean."

"Doesn't matter; I want you tell me every single detail."

"Well, if you insist..." he leisurely smirked. "From what I could gather, Cortex created that assassin to kill Crash during his sleep, but given the failure of the mission, the snarky little marsupial decided to try something... _different_..."

A sickening feeling suddenly went all the way from the bottom of his old, worn wooden cracks to his feathers; if he had a stomach, it would've been similar to the bile going up the esophagus. "What is she doing to him?!"

"Oh, don't worry," Uka Uka reassured him. "He's perfectly fine... so much so, he's even going out with her."

"I don't believe you," Aku Aku gritted his teeth. "Crash would never do such a thing. He's too smart to ever fall into that kind of trap."

Suddenly, silence. Then, the perverse spiritual mask had a brilliant idea – to show his older twin about Crash's whereabouts, in order to completely destroy his precious ego and all of his remaining hope.

"See him for yourself."

The menacing tone of his voice, surprisingly, didn't strike Aku Aku's fear as much as he had thought. Instead, it was this space-time portal that Uka Uka summoned up with his own powers to demonstrate exactly what he was implying – and right on the wrong hour.

"I... I can't believe it..."

Inside the portal, there was Crash, with his arm around Amelia's waist as she gently, at least to Aku Aku's eyes, placed her head underneath his nose, with her upper body leaning against his. The two were apparently taking a break from walking on the beach, once the mask noticed footprints all over the sand, and the fact that both were standing to appreciate the beauty of the ocean.

 _"This sure is beautiful, don't you think Ame?"_

'Ame'? Was that the assassin's name? It sure looked like her, given Crash's description.

 _"It is," she smiled, but unknown to Crash, the corner of her smile later turned into a snide smirk. "However, it's getting hot in here... I think it's time to go back and meet your family."_

 _"Yeah, they must be worried about me for missing lunch," he rubbed his Mohawk due to the heat. "I hope Coco won't give me a lecture because of that."_

 _"Lunch?" She lifted her ear. "How do you know we're past the lunch time?"_

 _"I can see the hours just by looking at the sun. Plus, I'm hungry."_

 _"Oh." She angrily bit her lip, as if she almost got her cover blown._

 _Crash looked at her with a curious look. "You okay?"_

 _"Yeah, I'm fine," she falsely smiled again, and gave Crash an extra push to get him going. "Let's go."_

The portal vanished at last. Speechless, Aku Aku got showered with nothing but pure disappointment – something which Uka Uka hadn't enjoyed for a very long time.

"You proved me wrong, Uka Uka." He bleakly said. Deep inside he wanted to believe that everything he saw as a mistake or a labored attempt to deceive him, and in a way he still did, but he also couldn't deny the evidence. "But I'm not the one to give up so easily. I still have faith on Crash."

Insensitive towards his plead, Uka Uka laughed, hard and loud. "We'll see about that, brother," he mockingly said. "We'll see about that..."

 _Please be safe, Crash,_ he thought. _Don't let yourself get into the wrong hands..._

And with that, Aku Aku had no choice but to wait like an anxious father waiting for his son's return from the war.

* * *

It was already half past two in the afternoon when Coco Bandicoot began to show the first signs of waking up. She had slightly moved her ears and eyelids when she noticed that a few drops of water had fallen onto her short snout – except, to her dismay, those weren't drops coming from the water tap but yes from Crunch himself, who also had unexpectedly fallen asleep, this time sleeping on the top of her head. With that weight of his, the first thing that popped up in the young blonde's mind was surprisingly not the question about how she wasn't crushed into pulp yet.

"Eww, Crunch!" She shouted. "You're drooling!"

Fortunately, the muscle-bound bandicoot only took a few seconds to fully wake up, startled but aware. "W-What?" He cleaned his mouth with his non-metallic arm. "What happened, Coco?"

"I don't know," she replied, grabbing a piece of cloth that happened to be near her on the dining table, and used it to quickly clean her face. "I just have no idea what happened to us. I don't even remember cooking this," she pointed at the recently eaten dishes in front of them with her hand.

Crunch looked around. The kitchen was a mess; someone had clearly been cooking with pots and other kitchen-related objects not too long ago, and the way it had been done indicated no one other than Coco. Still, despite the odds, it frightened them just to think of the possibility that someone else had been using their kitchen.

"Funny, I don't remember anything lately either..." he remarked.

"It's very strange, spooky even." Coco added. "It couldn't be Cortex, since we don't hear news from him in months. Plus, I don't see any forced entry or anything out of place, so it couldn't have been robbery."

"Hmm..." Crunch pondered, suspicious. He wandered around the kitchen for a few minutes in order to find any doubtful items or any mark left by the so-called intruder; in the end, however, he didn't find anything whatsoever, as the window was even closed. "Something _just_ doesn't smell right..."

"Hey guys!"

Out of the blue, a recognizable voice entered their ears like lightning. It was Crash, who had apparently returned from his beach voyage, only this time bringing someone new with him... and not anything like they've expected until that moment.

"Crash!" Coco stood up from her chair, unmistakably happy to see him. "Thank goodness, I don't see you for a while. Are you alright?"

"Better than ever," he smiled. Only then did she realize that a black, slightly shorter female bandicoot was standing right next to her brother. "Everyone, I want you to meet Amelia, my girlfriend."

Both Crunch and Coco stopped in their tracks. Aside from the obvious dilemma that they couldn't remember anything from the past twenty-four hours, the fact that their unattractive brother got a girlfriend as if money had also fell from the sky didn't really help them to decipher the mystery.

"You got... a girlfriend?" Crunch frowned. "...How?"

"Crunch, manners!" Coco elbowed him.

Crash raised an eyebrow, concerned. "Is there a problem?"

"No, no, not at all," Coco forcibly smiled. "It's just Crunch being silly... you know how he is all macho when it comes to these topics." In response, Crunch looked at her as if she had suddenly lost her mind, but Coco discreetly winked at him. "What's your name, dear?"

"Amelia." Finally in the spotlight, the assassin smiled back at her.

"Ooh, such a pretty name!" She grinned. "And where do you come from?"

"Cortex Island," she looked at her long claws, seemingly bored.

"Cortex Island?" Crunch inquired. "There are bandicoots living there?"

"Of course," she replied. "There always have been. I don't see what's the big deal is."

"Especially when they have the same fur color as yours, am I right?"

"Crunch!" Coco glared at him.

"It's okay," Amelia waved her hand. "I understand why your brother is acting this way. From what I heard, Doctor Neo Cortex has a very bad reputation, and as such anything coming from Cortex Island is automatically considered, well, bad."

"I'm so sorry," Coco apologized on his behalf. "I'm pretty sure you're a great person with a good heart. If Crash is your boyfriend, then that must be true."

"I wouldn't count on it..." he whispered almost soundlessly, but that only earned him another hard elbow from Coco.

"Thanks for reasoning with us, guys." Crash said. Suddenly, his nose caught the delicious smell of chickpea-tomato ragout from the cooking pot lying upon the dirty stove – it didn't take a second for him to open it and serve himself. "Man, I'm starving!" He closed the lid before bringing the dish with him to the table. "Want some, Ame?"

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry. Knock yourself out."

Crash shrugged, and went back to eating like no tomorrow. To Amelia, however, she went back to the interrogatory room, as she stood right in front of the tall, muscle-built bandicoot and the persistent brain of the house.

"So..." Coco started, as she moved her eyes away from the assassin for a moment or two in order to think clearly. "When did you and Crash meet?"

Amelia tried her hardest to hide her nervousness. "Yesterday."

"Where?"

"Huh..." she closed her mouth to prevent herself from biting her lip. "...at the beach."

"Really? Which beach?"

If it weren't for the fact that her mission had a high risk to be in jeopardy, she would've strangled Coco's neck by now. "At N. Sanity Beach, where else?"

"I see," she nodded. "So you decided to leave Cortex Island temporarily to go on vacation and then you stumbled upon Crash?"

"Yeah," Amelia smiled. "How did you know?"

"I just guessed." She shrugged.

Crunch, who was standing next to Coco and had his arms already folded, wasn't really buying into Amelia's story. "How about you, Crash?" He turned his eyes at him.

"What she says." He aimed his thumb at her in agreement.

"Anyway," before Crunch could open his mouth one more time, Coco gave a deep breath to prevent the awkward conversation to go any further. "It's already 3 o'clock, and even though it's a little early, I feel like drinking a cup of tea. Who wants some?"

Crunch sighed, annoyed. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in my room." He left, no more or less. Even the absent-minded bandicoot noticed that something was off in the air.

"What's wrong with him?" He asked, confused.

At last, Amelia could breathe. With Crunch out of her way, she finally could proceed with her plan without any more aggravating obstacles. "I'd like some chamomile tea, please."

"Sure thing," despite her suspicion, Coco didn't hesitate. Tired of standing for too long, Amelia decided that it was time to strike again – by sitting right next to Crash, who by pure coincidence had just finished his meal.

"Well, at least I can't complain for the next couple of hours." Completely full, he put his plate away with his hand.

"By the size of that plate, I can definitely guarantee you that..." she added, almost sarcastically. The assassin quickly dismissed her cunning remark and, moving closer to the bandicoot in hopes of dragging him to the attic, she lazily stretched her arms. "You know," she whispered. "I feel like taking a nap right now... what would you say if we do it together in _your_ room, hmm?"

Unfortunately, Crash didn't pay any attention to those details, as his mind apparently wasn't there. "Huh? You feel like taking a nap? But it's too early."

Defeated, Amelia sighed. "What is your suggestion for us, then?" She crossed her arms.

The once international marsupial hero was never the brightest, but in that moment in that particular place, he had a brilliant idea. "I'll show you later. But for now, I have to finish painting the front door... that someone else left unfinished, for some reason."

* * *

Amelia was impatient. She just had the golden opportunity to get rid of that pesky rat – and yet, once again, he had outsmarted her by extreme luck. If that was the only logical explanation as to why Cortex never succeeded in defeating a dim-witted creature such as him, at least there was something she could sympathize with.

Another hour had already slipped by. Bored to death, Amelia had decided to take a look around the bandicoots' hut after she finished drinking her tea, and even had plenty of time to study the flora of N. Sanity Island. She found interesting at how diversely different that island was from her home; while Cortex Island was murky, filled with toxic waste up to the point that even the sky was gray and non-breathable for those who weren't born there, N. Sanity Island was a paradise – clean air, clean water, laden with distinctive plants and trees which in turn contributed with oxygen essential for survival, it almost felt like a dream she never dared to experience. Although she had already admitted her love for the practice of evil, she definitely wouldn't think twice in moving there.

When she eventually heard Crash calling out for her, Amelia sped up her pace. He was at the entrance of the jungle, presumably looking for her, and by the small stains of green paint spread throughout his arms and abdomen, it was clear that he had finished his job – hopefully not poorly.

"So, what is this 'surprise' you care so much to show me?" She raised an eyebrow.

Unexpectedly, he smiled. "Follow me."

Shrugging out of annoyance, Amelia had no choice but to follow his steps. Who knew that being the fake girlfriend of a part-time hero would be tedious? Especially somebody who didn't even know the concept of paparazzi for living in one of the most remote places on the planet...

"Here," Crash stopped. He opened the garage, which was remarkably almost the same size as the actual hut, though a bit dusty inside. When they put a foot in there, Amelia observed the many vehicles and gadgets lying around – a broken jet ski, a jet board, a jet pack, two old karts – which were blue and pink respectively –, a scooter, a glider, a camo-colored jeep that hadn't been used for five years, and last but not least, a custom motorcycle – a chopper, to be precise.

"What is this rusty old thing?"

"My first motorcycle... and the only one I have."

Amelia examined it closer. She placed a finger on the fiery-colored vehicle and noticed that it hadn't been cleaned out for quite a while, just like everything else in that garage. More importantly, she noticed that the aged motorcycle had damage marks all over it.

"I see that this chopper is a great deal to you," she remarked, unenthusiastic. "How exactly old is it?"

"Since 1998," he answered. "I was fifteen at the time. Never in my life I've rode a two-wheeled vehicle before... it was a blast."

"A blast?"

"You know," he casually shrugged. "Jumping on ramps, running away from the police..."

"And you were supposed to be the savior of the world..." she scoffed.

Then, silence. Crash took a few more moments to gaze at the vehicle before he could finally propose his own suggestion.

"Would you like to go on a ride with me?"

Amelia froze. She? On an antiquated, broken vehicle with only two tires? Please.

"I don't know..." she looked at it with repugnance. "I'm not really a fan of traveling."

"Come on," he insisted. "It'll be a short trip. Just to show you how the majority of N. Sanity Island looks like."

"Wait; there are roads on this island?"

He widened his eyes. "Of course there are! We may not have polluting factories like on Cortex Island, but our island is actually much visited worldwide. It's even seen as one of the best island resorts."

Resort, heh? So that meant...

"Hmm, if you really want to go on a date with me," Amelia seductively said, "and to make it extra special, I think we should go to a hotel and spend the night there."

Crash blinked. "T-To a hotel?!" He stuttered. "Sorry mate, but I only have money to a motel at most. Plus, my bike is low on gas, so I'll need to refuel it."

"How far away is it?" She persisted.

The orange marsupial folded his arms in concentration. "The least costly one I know is on the other side of the island; it'll take around, maybe... four hours to get there."

Amelia smirked inwardly. _Perfect,_ she thought. _If I attempt to kill him here, his noisy siblings will make a fuss. But inside a motel room, his body can rot for days and nobody will even bat an eye! And when they finally find him, Crash Bandicoot is dead, and I'll be free from Cortex forever!_

"It's going to be the greatest night ever," she embraced him. "You and me, alone, after a long journey on the road... it will be romantic."

Crash couldn't help but pretend to smile genuinely at her statement. It was so cheesy and tasteless like a diet Pepsi, but his affection for the assassin was such that it just flew by past him.

"It's settled then. I'm gonna get my jacket; I'll be right back."

* * *

 **Note:** The reason why Crash wasn't affected by the amnesiac potion is because he was already under the effects of the 'love potion'. Just to clarify that out.


	7. Riders In The Sky

**Chapter 7**

As soon as Crash returned to the garage, this time dressed in a fine, long-sleeved black jacket with fake white fur on top of his shoulders and an upper case 'C' highlighted in blue and yellow, Amelia was leaning against the wall with her arms folded. Her brown eyes automatically landed on his jacket first, until she noticed that he was also bringing sunglasses and had replaced his usual brown fingerless gloves and red sneakers to black ones, probably to match with the color of his jacket. Although the assassin was far from being called a 'valley girl', even she had to admit that he was very well dressed – for an ignoramus anyway.

"Ready to go?" He asked while adjusting his sunglasses.

"Ready," she smiled, shaking her short jacket in agreement.

Without further ado, Crash walked into the garage with Amelia following him behind. Every step he gave towards the motorcycle made her heart beat faster; not because of the thrill of riding a two-wheeled vehicle for the first time, oh no, but because she wanted to get out of that hell hut as fast as she could.

When Crash had already sat on the motorcycle, however, he suddenly and lightly hit his temple with the palm of his hand.

"Silly me," he said. "I forgot to tell Coco and Crunch that we're going out!"

Amelia widened her eyes out of surprise. If he told them that they were leaving, there was a high probability of those two numskulls disagreeing and trapping her in there – making the mission failing, once again, miserably.

"Don't worry," she hurriedly reassured him. "I'll go talk to them. You stay here; I won't take long."

Appreciating her help, Crash smiled. "Alrighty then."

Without a second thought, Amelia turned her back and headed herself to the hut's entrance; good thing that stupid bandicoot had a remarkable trust in strangers.

* * *

"What's wrong with you?" Coco exclaimed, clearly angry at the burgundy marsupial.

Crunch Bandicoot was in his room. He was peacefully reading gym-related magazines by the window until his younger adoptive sister stormed off inside, still not forgotten about what happened earlier that afternoon.

"There's nothing wrong with me."

"Yes there is!" Coco added. "We have just received a new guest in the house – Crash's girlfriend especially – and instead of you having your mouth shut, you just kept on insisting the obvious!"

Crunch stopped reading and stared at her, annoyed. "What did you want me to say to her, Coco? That I was glad to receive a complete stranger in our house and that she was Virgin Mary?"

"Okay, now you're going too far," she placed her hands on her hips. "All I wanted was you to cooperate with me on that whole conversation thing; we may not know where she really comes from, but does it really matter? Crash seems evidently happy with her, and in the end, she didn't seem particularly unsympathetic either."

"Exactly," he closed the magazine. "We don't know _anything_ about her. Think about this, Coco: we don't remember anything from the last twenty-four hours; she appears out of nowhere stating that she is Crash's girlfriend even though we have never seen her before on this island or anywhere else, and did you notice Crash's mood lately? He seemed high, for god's sake!"

"I wouldn't say high..." she put a finger underneath her chin, contemplative. "He just seemed a little happier than usual, but so what? It's normal for him to feel like this; I'd be surprised if he weren't."

"Did you forget what happened to him after he and Tawna broke up?" He frowned. "He swore that he would never date again, and people don't fall 'in love' overnight."

"Yeah, but you also forgot that people change."

"Change _this_ drastically? I don't think so."

"Look," Coco sighed, tired. "I know you're tense about this whole amnesia thing and that Amelia's appearance didn't help our case either. However, we're still civilized people and if you want our situation to go on the right direction, we have to give her a chance; maybe she's the culprit, maybe she's not, but only time will tell."

On the other side of the room, an attentive Amelia had discreetly been listening to their argument from the beginning, with her ear almost glued to the closed door. It was time for her to proceed with her newest plan, and one of the requirements was the same satchel she had brought from Cortex's space station, as she carefully removed a certain object from it.

"Speaking of time..." Coco thought out loud. "Where's Aku Aku? I don't see him in days."

"Probably meditating at the Hyperspace Temple," Crunch shrugged. "Where else would he be?"

"Do you think he had the chance to warn us about this?"

Unexpectedly, Crunch began to have some sort of epiphany, as if the mask himself was trying to speak to him.

"Yeah..." he slowly turned his face at her. "If Aku Aku had warned us about this, we would have a chance to avoid this situation... if we didn't, it's because he's got... my god..."

"Well, you two are such smart cookies, aren't ya?"

The unfamiliar voice caught them off guard. When their eyes darted at the individual, it was Amelia, who was pointing at them some sort of gun which, to their dismay, was Cortex's ray gun – and on the stun mode.

"You!" Crunch growled.

Shocked, Coco tried to reverse the perilous situation. "Amelia, why are you doing this to us? What have we done to you?"

"Nothing," she smirked. "It's just that you two are getting in my way, so I have to get rid of you."

"I hope Crash has a good explanation as to why he dates lunatics..." he muttered.

"Where is my brother?!" Coco demanded.

"That's none of your business, girlie." She retorted.

"That's it, you're done."

In the moment Amelia fired her gun, Coco was able to dodge the shot by mere centimeters and kicked the assassin real hard under the chin, making her to fly against the wall and hurt her back. As soon as the ray gun was released from her hand, Crunch didn't hesitate to run towards the female bandicoot and finish the job, but unfortunately for him, he arrived too late, as she managed to grab the gun beforehand and fire at him.

"Crunch!" Coco yelled, watching him fall towards the floor, unconscious.

Furious than ever, Coco quickly rose up and ran towards Amelia's direction to give her another valiant kick, but once again, the assassin hit the jackpot – and the blonde bandicoot also fell stunned, this time on top of Crunch.

Despite the pain, Amelia took no time in standing up. Her back was going to ache for a few days and her chin was sore, but fortunately it wasn't serious enough to leave her incapacitated. Right before she could leave the room, a sound similar to the one of an incoming transmission rang out. Curious, Amelia inspected her satchel, only to find out that someone had placed a walkie-talkie in there. Without options, Amelia answered the transmission.

 _"Amelia! Did you already kill Crash Bandicoot?"_

Of course it had to be Cortex.

"No, I haven't yet," she rolled her eyes. "And if you keep rushing me, I can assure you that I'll end up killing you first."

 _"Very subtle..."_ he sneered. _"Well, how is your plan going?"_

"Crash was successfully brainwashed, but N. Brio's amnesiac potion didn't really work out, so I had to resort to violence in order to defeat Coco and Crunch. They're unconscious now."

 _"Good, good. Inform me when you're done; and don't forget, I want that bandicoot completely dead!"_

He ended the transmission. Amelia threw the walkie-talkie back into her satchel and returned to the garage, running almost at the speed of light, and unsurprisingly found Crash still sitting on his motorcycle, whistling but with a face that could only show ultimate boredom.

"What took you so long?" He inquired, impatient. It was a miracle knowing that he didn't hear anything whatsoever.

"Sorry, I had to explain them the whole story." She finally sat on the single seat behind Crash. "Hey, why aren't you wearing a helmet?"

"I never wore one." He smiled at her, and then started the engine.

"But what if we have an acciden–"

"Hold on tight!"

 _Vroom!_ The wheels rolled so fast that they made the sand transform into dust, as the motorcycle exited the garage without colliding into any of the gadgets or vehicles and ascended the dirt roads at an incredible speed. She definitely should've thought twice in staying at home.

* * *

The sun slowly began to settle down. It was forty past six when both Crash and Amelia, who had been sitting on a moving object for two solid hours, had already completed half of their planned course. Two more hours and they would safely arrive to the motel; meanwhile, Amelia managed to distract her thoughts away from the tiresomeness of the ride by gazing at the horizon, as the orange tones of the sky somehow soothed her soul. Due to the fact that N. Sanity Island was close to Australia, its climatic zone was a tropical one – which resulted in an arid environment and high temperatures that thankfully have lowered a bit. Utility poles were everywhere, and the lack of vegetation surrounding the old roads – the only way Crash could proceed with the ride since he hadn't the money to pay the highways – was astounding compared to the one she saw on N. Sanity Beach.

With the wind blowing their faces, Crash stared into the side-view mirror to assess Amelia's condition. She was still holding his stomach in order not to fly away from the vehicle, but at least it wasn't as strong as it was from the beginning.

"You okay in there?" He turned his head at her for a second, with the repetitive intrusive noise of the engine baffling his voice.

"I'm fine," she said. "I'm just bored; are we there yet?"

Crash looked at the fuel gauge. The indicator showed him that the motorcycle was dangerously approaching the empty tank, and if the light suddenly came on, he could damage the fuel pump. Crash bit his lip, thinking; if it weren't for the extremely long distance, and the fact that he stupidly forgot to check his fuel gauge every once in a while, he would've fueled up the motorcycle in advance. Now it was a very good time to start praying.

"There's nothing wrong with the bike itself, is it?" Amelia asked, suspicious.

"No, of course not," he lied. "Everything's fine."

To his salvation, however, Crash spotted a road sign indicating that there was a very convenient facility a few miles from there. He breathed in pure relief, and only five minutes later, he decided to warn his companion.

"We're going to pull over!" He shouted because of the noise.

"What?" She shouted back, this time with her ear turned at him. "Where?"

"There!" He aimed his finger ahead.

It was a gas station. Crash began to decrease the speed and as soon as they entered the facility, he did a maneuver and went straight to the fuel dispenser. At long last, he turned off the engine by removing the keys, which meant that neither of the two had to endure any more of the insufferable noise for a while.

"My god," leaping out of the motorcycle, Amelia stretched her whole body, from her toes to her nose, and put her hands on her kidneys. "My back hurts... and my butt."

"Yeah," Crash agreed, moving his sunglasses to the top of his head. "It has been a hot day, alright. But I'm warning you, it's going to be colder when we get there – that's why I brought this jacket."

"Won't bother me," she shrugged. "I always preferred the cold."

Crash carefully got out of the vehicle. "Well, I better start filling the tank."

"Before you do it, can you tell me the exact amount of gallons you want to fill? I want to pay in advance."

"Sure."

He gave her his wallet. After he told her the desirable information, Amelia walked up to the automatic doors of the convenience store. When she stepped inside, she failed to see the cashier due to the fact that she was more interested in looking at Crash's money, this until she heard a recognizable voice.

"So... having fun with the hero, heh?"

Her heart stopped.

"N. Tropy?!" She looked up.

The master of time was poorly disguised as a cashier, as the red and yellow outfit he had to wear made him look like he was working in McDonald's, with his shirt burst open from the back because of the metal columns of his armor. Even worse, he also brought another evil friend of his, who happened to be Doctor N. Gin himself, hiding behind the register as if he were some sort of freak monster (which Amelia highly agreed). Unlike N. Tropy, he wasn't wearing any special outfit.

"Oh great," she placed her hands on her hips. "What is the Rocket Man doing here?"

"Doctor Cortex has sent us to check on your 'progresses'." N. Tropy spoke. "We knew you'd come here for a quick visit, so we took care of the cashier that was here before us."

A loud groan caught Amelia's attention. She approached her head closer to the register to take a closer look at the unlucky victim – a young human male, who was lying at the corner with his hands and feet tied up, with a piece of fabric covering his mouth. Fortunately, he was unharmed without a single scratch, but the fact that he only had his underpants explained why N. Tropy was the only one wearing the outfit.

She sighed. "May I ask _how_ you two idiots knew I was coming here?"

"It's very simple," N. Tropy proudly smiled. "While you were waiting for N. Brio's potion at the space station, the doctor put a tracking device in your walkie-talkie."

"He what?!"

"We also heard your conversations with the bandicoot," N. Gin elucidated, smiling as well. "That's why we guessed that you would end up here because of his 'rusty' motorcycle."

"And the romantic 'night' at the motel..." N. Tropy flashed his eyelashes, while N. Gin was trying his hardest not to die of undying laughter.

Amelia was dumbfounded. At first, she couldn't resist of having her cheeks slightly flush, but that all changed a second later when she began to show her cutting teeth.

"You've got some nerve..." she growled, as she grabbed N. Gin by his lab coat to glare directly into his eyes.

"P-Please don't hurt me!" The stocky cyborg pleaded. "We have just followed Doctor Cortex's orders, I swear!"

"Before you get so defensive," completely calm, N. Tropy looked at her. "We have to remind you that this is a special mission, therefore there's no time for joking around. If you haven't got rid of the skunk yet, it's because you're in trouble."

Amelia gave a look outside through the large rectangle window of the convenience store before finally releasing N. Gin. Crash had just finished filling the tank, and he seemed to be waiting for her, although fortunately he got absorbed by the arid view in front of him.

"Trouble?" She frowned. "He's a complete doofus! I had more trouble getting rid of his pesky siblings than being his forsaken girlfriend. I just need more 'quality time' so that I can kill him without witnesses."

"You could've killed him in the bathtub honey, we don't care." N. Tropy scoffed. "As I told you, we're only here because the doctor lost his ability to sleep without having nightmares with the bandicoot, and of course, we still have to do his dirty work."

"To be fair, you could tell us how you are going to lure him into the motel room..." N. Gin raised his eyebrows up and down.

"Shut up," in response to her retort, he flinched. "I'm getting real tired of Cortex ordering incompetent henchmen like you to stalk me, but unfortunately, I don't have time to deal with you two today." She turned her back to leave the store, but as soon as she reached the automatic doors, she looked at N. Tropy with a smirk. "Oh, and before you go, don't forget to release the poor innocent guy, otherwise he'll stink up the place."

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you." He rolled his eyes.

When she left, N. Gin breathed at last. "She's so mean," he avowed.

"You can say that again..." he clenched his teeth.

Outside, while hearing Amelia's footsteps approaching him, Crash turned his face at her. "Well, are you ready to hop in again?"

"Yeah yeah," she waved her hand, as she constantly glanced behind her back. "Now let's go, I don't want to catch a cold."

Noticing her stressed behavior, Crash frowned. "What's the hurry?"

"N-Nothing," she nervously smiled, trying to make up a fake excuse. "It's just that the sun is setting and if we don't arrive there soon-"

"Hey, that guy looks like N. Tropy!"

Pointing at the convenience store, Amelia almost had a heart attack when she immediately lifted up her head at the window, only to find out that the two henchmen were still at the register looking at the flies. Crash rapidly shook his head, rubbed his eyelids with his hands, and luckily the blue clock dude and the fat cyborg had disappeared like magic.

"Nah, it probably was my imagination..." he started the engine, and she sighed in relief. "Come on, let's get out of here."


	8. Murder Motel - Part One

**A/N:** Okay, I just want to say in advance that this chapter was not only extremely difficult for me to write (something that shouldn't really happen in a fanfic), it's also the largest chapter in this story, so I had to split it into two parts. Also, I tried to make this chapter somewhat funny, but my sense of humor really sucks, so I'm warning you.

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

Arriving at the motel, an exhausted Crash and his mortified companion took no time in parking the motorcycle right in front of the building. Four hours of nothing but hot air thrown in their faces and dirt everywhere they went, the thought of sleeping there became such an exceptional idea that in that particular day at that particular hour of the night, the two marsupials couldn't help but view the discounted motel as a reward from the gods.

Once they stepped inside, Amelia looked at the clock that was hanging on the wall right above the desk clerk's head. It was 8:50 p.m., but even after all the riding stress, Crash was still fresh and well-disposed – as he naturally approached the receptionist, who was a human female with short blonde hair. Since mutants were relatively new, it was still very common to find humans spread on the Wumpa Islands, especially when it came to tourism.

"Hello," he greeted, his elbows resting upon the table and his sunglasses on the top of his head. "We would like to rent a room for two for one night."

"Yes sir," she nodded, as her fingers touched the keyboard keys at an incredible pace. "That would be twenty dollars, please."

In the moment Crash was trying to remove the wallet from his jeans' pocket, the desk clerk studied this not-so-strange traveler while Amelia inquisitively watched her reaction. Aside from Cortex and his crew, it wasn't usual for her to interact with regular humans.

"Hey, I know you!" She smiled. "You're Crash Bandicoot!"

"The very same," he returned the smile, giving her the money.

"I knew I was recognizing that accent from somewhere." She added. "I've heard a lot about you and your heroic accomplishments. Seriously, it's such an honor to meet you in person, Mr. Crash."

"Oh please, just call me Crash." Flattered, he rubbed the back of his neck. "I just do my best to protect the world while I can."

"And who is this lovely lady?" She turned her head at Amelia, who was caught by surprise.

Before she had a chance to answer, however, Crash intervened. "She's my girlfriend, Amelia."

"Oh, so it's a romantic night for two, huh?" She giggled, a detail which Amelia didn't appreciate that much. "My apologies; here's the key to your room," she handed it to Crash. "It's in the top floor. Have a good night."

"Thank you."

Without a single suitcase to bring along (with the exception of Amelia's satchel), the two tired bandicoots had a bit less of a struggle in walking upstairs. When they reached to their destined bedroom – as the number was indicated in the own key – and opened the door, the very first thing that shocked Crash was surprisingly not the state of the room, which was a tiny disorganized mess, but the king-size bed in front of him, that apparently had no sheets and had some weird stains spread all over it.

"Jesus, what happened to the mattress?"

"You don't wanna know."

Inside their wonderful room, there was a not very modern TV set, a DVD player that didn't work, a couple of comedy B-movies laying around on the gray carpeted floor and a bedside table on each side of the mattress, with the only telephone barely working because of the ripped wires, and a decent bathroom right next to the door.

"Totally not worth the twenty dollars..." she muttered.

"Heh, it could've been worse." He shrugged.

" _Worse_?" She scowled at him. "You're kidding, right? I'm not sleeping on these conditions."

"Alright, if you don't feel like sleeping on the dirty mattress, we can sleep on the floor. It seems pretty cozy to me."

"No way Jose," she stuck her claw into his chest. " _You_ are going to sleep on the floor. I'm gonna talk with the desk clerk so that I can sleep in another room."

"Woah, woah, hold on your horses," Crash defensively shook his hands. "No need to trade rooms; I'll talk to the lady downstairs and see if I can get another mattress."

"You seriously want to get all the work of replacing this filthy thing and doing the bed by yourself?" She raised an eyebrow.

"It's just a mattress..." he frowned.

And so he went. Crash walked down the stairs, repeated the exact same story to the receptionist, brought some bed sheets and covers, walked down the stairs again, and eventually brought a king-size mattress that was at least clean on the outside, and all in less than ten minutes. When he arrived, though, he barely had any breath left.

"Here... it... is..." he gasped, leaning against the mattress.

"About time," she took the mattress away from him like it was cardboard. "Now help me doing the bed; I can't believe I paid twenty dollars for this dump..."

After the bed was done, Amelia's nose suddenly caught something unpleasant in the air, a smell similar to the one of a wet dog. "Dear lord, what is this smell?" Trying to find the evidence, she turned to Crash. "It's you!"

"Me?" He smelled his hand. "Huh. I don't know what happened, but I must've sweated a lot... probably during the ride."

"For the love of god, go take a shower!" She covered her nose in disgust. "And immerse yourself in lots of soap and shampoo, or bleach if it's needed."

Pointing at the bathroom, Crash had no choice but to obey her orders. In good will, he began to remove his leather jacket first before removing his jeans and sneakers, but by the time he was going to remove his underwear, Amelia immediately turned her eyes away from him – which didn't really matter, because he eventually tossed his pink hearted boxers right next to her.

"Here, you'll need this." She gave him a towel, her gaze still diverted from his nakedness. He smiled.

"Thanks mate."

Accepting the towel, Crash stepped into the bathtub. As soon as he closed the door for privacy, Amelia decided that it was time to have a little conversation with her boss. She left the room and walked down a few stairs, so that the nosy desk clerk couldn't hear her voice, and only then she sat on a step with the walkie-talkie in her hand.

"Cortex! Are you in there?"

A few seconds later, after she heard what seemed to be a snore, the evil doctor finally woke up from his beauty sleep, as he removed the two lemon slices off his eyes. _"What now?"_ He grumbled. _"Can't you see I was taking a nap after so many sleepless nights?"_

"Oh believe me," she sneered. "You are going to have so many more until you explain me why you sent the fat rocket man and the schizophrenic board obsessed with clocks to go after me in the middle of the desert!"

 _"Calm down princess,"_ apathetic, Cortex reassured. _"No need to protect your precious ego. I only sent those two so that you don't get too delayed in killing Crash, if you know what I mean."_

"I don't need any help," she countered. "Especially from someone whose dark circles are deeper than the Grand Canyon."

The doctor gave an unexpected gasp, utterly offended at his minion's elaborate insult. _"How dare you! Listen here, missy, I may be resting here in my highly decorated quarters at my own space station while orbiting the Earth, but as soon as I get to that puny neck of yours, I'm going to twist it so hard you won't know what hit yo-"_

Rolling her eyes, Amelia ended the transmission. My god, who knew that such a midget of a scientist with a thick skull that had the shape of a hammer would equally have such a fragile ego? And she thought that Uka Uka had issues...

Returning to the room, Amelia spotted Crash's clothes spread throughout the place. Great, not only she had to ask for a mattress _and_ talk to Cortex as if he were her freaking father, she also had to put her so-called boyfriend's clothes in order while he was in the shower. But then she had a brilliant idea – instead of doing all that, she carefully removed the same knife that had a shiny razor-sharp blade from her satchel, and quietly opened the bathroom's door.

To her amusement, Crash was enjoying the shower so much that aside the fact that he didn't notice that the door was open, he also was _singing_. Amelia gave a snort, trying to focus in stabbing him in the back and, when he had finished pouring the shampoo, he suddenly pushed the curtains.

"Hey Ame, my shampoo bottle got empty, would you mind if you get me another on-"

And they screamed so hard that even the neighbors in Antarctica heard their screams.

* * *

"What the heck were you doing in there, mate?" Crash asked, with the towel already placed in his waist. "If you wanted to see me naked, you could've just asked."

"I already told you, I was just going to ask if you needed my help!" She lied, as she tried to forget the awkward situation that happened between them five minutes earlier. On the other hand, though, she was lucky that he didn't see her knife. "And for your information, no, I wasn't interested in seeing your private parts, including your rear end."

"But after all, are you my girlfriend or my grandma?"

"Just get yourself dressed." She huffed, tossing Crash's pants at his direction, where they precisely landed on his nose. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to eat something."

With the pants still hanging on his nose, Crash watched Amelia closing the door in a thud, as she made the room echo inside.

"Maybe Crunch is right," he thought out loud, shaking his head. "Women are mad as a meat-axe..."

After Crash put his jacket on a hat rack and quickly dressed his jeans and socks, since he wasn't going to need his black sneakers for a good while, he jumped onto the bed, which happened to be quite comfy, and finally picked up the control remote to watch some television.

"At last." He happily sighed.

He pressed the button. Nothing.

"That's odd..." he pressed again, but still nothing.

No matter how many different buttons he pressed, there was always this annoying static on the screen. Crash got up from the bed, approached the TV set and began to hit on it with his fist to make it magically work, but to no avail. Since he wasn't the type of guy to give up that easily, he spent yet another two minutes trying to make it work by stirring the wires, moving the antenna or even hit the control remote some more, this until he – quite miraculously mind you – managed to fix the device.

"Ah, good as new," he wiped the dust off his hands.

A new problem arose, however, as all the channels available on that television were apparently in Spanish, since they didn't have satellite. Perplexed, Crash continually pressed the up button in hopes to find a single channel in English, but all he found were soap operas and some hilariously bad commercials about butter. Unable to do anything, Crash gave in and decided to return to the bed to keep watching some soap opera, even though every word he heard was the same as listening to Chinese.

Shortly after, someone opened the door.

"What is this incomprehensible racket I've been hearing outside?" Amelia asked, chewing the last piece of a chocolate bar she recently bought from the vending machine.

"Well, for starters," Crash spoke, aiming his index finger at the screen. "We only have foreign TV."

"Wait, are you telling me that we don't have TV in English?"

"Nope."

"That's it," Amelia threw the plastic paper towards the floor. "That clerk is gonna get it. I'll be right back."

Turning her back to protest, Amelia walked out of the room (again) and Crash, who didn't bother joining the revolution, just lied still while he attempted to comprehend the drama that was going on the screen, as he scratched his mohawk. He wasn't picky, but even he had to admit that soap operas in general were way too complicated when trying to understand the basic human emotion, especially in a language where for some reason people talked as if they had taken a good can of Red Bull.

As soon as she reached the middle of the staircase, Amelia stopped in her tracks. She suddenly remembered that Crash didn't seem too worried about having Spanish television; in fact, he seemed pretty nonchalant towards it. That only meant one thing...

...Another golden opportunity to kill him, of course!

Amelia smirked, this time more confident. She walked upstairs all the way back to the room without making a noise and, peeking through the door, she studied the marsupial's attention span and concluded that he was still absorbed by the loud soap opera, which was perfect for her to commit her crime, or at least she thought.

Opening the door in a quiet manner, Amelia decided to make her move. She silently crawled in direction to Crash, who was still engaged by that crap, and only then she slowly began to elevate her knife high enough to strike directly into his chest, with both of her hands grasping the object.

 _Bye, bye, bandicoot,_ her smile was so wide that it reached her ears. _The second I stab your heart, you're gonna bleed so badly that this room will be filled with your own blo-_

"Hey Ame," still not looking at her, Crash opened his mouth. "Would you mind if you make me a sandwich? I'm hungry."

 _Oh for crying out loud!_

"Sure, honey." She gave him a forced, sick smile. _You want a sandwich, huh? I'll go and make your damn sandwich..._

Defeated, Amelia put her knife back into the satchel and angrily exited the room. Since their room didn't have a kitchenette, the assassin had no choice but to go downstairs all over again and ask the clerk where the kitchen room was – after the directions were given, she finally stepped into the kitchen and began to do the oh so desired sandwich, but not without new killing suggestions in mind.

 _They must have some toxic products somewhere..._ she began to inspect the cabinets. _But what exactly am I going to give him? They don't have cyanide in here, and I don't feel like extracting seeds from a thousand apples just to make the poison, so what am I going to do? Hmm..._

Then, purely by chance, Amelia found a single can of rodenticide in the lower cabinet.

 _I know! Rat poison!_ She picked it up. _Suits him well, heh heh._

After pouring the poison into the ham sandwich, Amelia returned to the room with the food served in a clean plate, while the male bandicoot remained watching. As she expected, Crash didn't think twice and in the moment he was about to take a bite out of the sandwich – with Amelia eagerly touching her fingers from a safe distance –, he abruptly stopped.

"What is this strange black substance that's on the top of the ham?" He frowned, looking at the contents inside.

 _Darn,_ she thought. For a big rat, he sure was pretty intelligent. "It's vegemite," she nervously replied.

"Hm," he bit his lip. "It seems like it..." when she realized that he was willing to take the predestined bite, she prayed. "...but I don't really like the smell of it, though; it seems expired. Oh well," he threw the sandwich into the garbage can and leaped out of the bed. "That's okay. I think I'm going to take a snack out of the vending machine."

Leaving the room, Crash closed the door, and Amelia screamed at the top of her lungs like a lunatic before she could choke herself with a pillow.


	9. Murder Motel - Part Two

**A/N:** Holy shit, it's been months since I updated this story! My apologies for putting it in the dust, life got in the way and I'm not the fastest person to write, even when I'm writing a revamped version of the original fanfic. Speaking of that, I like to tease my readers about whether or not Crash and Amelia are going to end up together, since this story bears a lot of similarities but also lots of surprises (hopefully), so... stay tuned!

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

One hour passed. On the motel bed, Crash was still watching the repeated soap opera as a sulking Amelia was lying right next to him, one arm under her pillow while the other upon her leg. Sometimes mumbling, the female southern brown bandicoot focused all of her energy to her mind, even to the point of completely ignoring her supposed-to-be boyfriend – which actually wasn't hard, considering that Crash had an amazing short attention span to things he had already seen a million times before.

Trapped in her compulsive thoughts, Amelia continued examining every single detail of the room so that she could finally reach her goal. Eating the poisoned sandwich apparently didn't work, so what could she do? Push him out of the window? Nah, too easy; he had more chance in falling on some poor homeless person. Blow him up with TNT? She didn't have those materials at hand, and there was no way in hell she was going to ask those two idiots for assistance. Push him towards the stairs? Could work, except for the fact that there was no way he was getting up from that bed anytime soon, unless she was willing to put a surprise bomb inside the toilet beforehand...

In other words, maybe this 'going on a date somewhere far away from home' wasn't a very good idea.

Casually touching her satchel out of boredom, Amelia's light bulb suddenly shone – she almost forgot Cortex's ray gun! She had brought that weapon for a reason, and not only to infuriate the yellow-skinned doctor on purpose. Removing the gun from the satchel as quietly as she could, she turned it on, waited a few seconds for it to warm up, discreetly pointed it at Crash and...

The battery was dead.

With her blood finally boiling, Amelia swallowed a scream, as she threw the beloved gun through the window and, quite ironically, actually hit an innocent homeless guy who happened to be walking in front of the motel right in the head, knocking him out.

"Are you okay?" By a miracle, Crash noticed her abrupt change of mood.

"I'm fine," she mumbled.

Unexpectedly, the TV got silent. It took her a few seconds to realize that the background noise wasn't there anymore, and when she did, she felt relieved and scared at the same time, especially since it was Crash himself who turned off the device.

"So, huh..." unsure what to say, he put the control remote away and crossed his fingers. "What do you wanna do now?"

"Oh gee, I don't know," with her mood getting worse every minute, she scoffed. "How about the 'Shut up Game' where you earn twenty bonus points each time you're quiet for an hour?"

Crash lowered his ears. "Oh... okay," he turned his eyes away from her and stared at the ceiling.

As much as she didn't like to admit, Amelia was genuinely impressed with Crash's innate patience. It was very rare to find somebody who could withstand her constant sulkiness, and if she happened to go on a fake date with her boss instead of the orange marsupial, the two of them would've probably annihilated each other as of now.

"This isn't the first time you go on a date, right?" She inquired. "I mean, you're the world's most famous hero, so I assume you must have been in a relationship before."

"And you're not wrong," Crash turned his nose at her. "I had a girlfriend once... her name was Tawna. Do you know her?"

"Nope. Never seen or heard her in my life."

The same sad look returned to his green apple eyes. "I used to love that bandicoot... in a way, I still do."

Amelia scowled at him.

"But she knew from the start that it wouldn't work," he added. "We were too young; she had just been out of the Evolvo-Ray just like I was, and well... we just split our paths and never saw each other again."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I guess life just gets in the way... my sister keeps insisting not to look into the past and accept the fact that our break-up was for a good reason, but the truth is... I still think of her. Every single day."

Amelia turned her face away from Crash, rolling her eyes in annoyance. Now he was rambling about his ex-girlfriend, great.

"But you know what? Maybe she's right; things happen for a reason. Heck, I even doubt she's thinking of me as I'm thinking of her. What matters now is that I have you."

The assassin's heart skipped a beat.

"You may not be what I always wanted in a girlfriend, but I like to believe that everyone has some goodness in them, no matter how little it is. Yes, even Dr. Cortex, and that guy is a bunch of kangaroos loose in the top paddock." Even though she didn't quite understand that one sentence, she let him continue. "I know I am naïve, but... I can't help it."

 _He's being serious_ , she thought, astonished. Who knew that the one and only Crash Bandicoot was a sensitive fellow after all? He might not have fourth grade, but he didn't have as many neurological problems as Cortex, with his skills and extreme luck being his best qualities. However, the level of respect he had for her was something she had never seen before, especially since she was forced to grow up in a tiny circle of mad scientists who hated each other's guts.

"Are you telling me that... you like me?" Amelia looked at him and, much to his surprise, she seemed to be shocked just as well.

"Of course," Crash said. "Why wouldn't I? You're my girlfriend."

"But even if I weren't... would you still like me for who I am?"

He smiled. "What kind of question is that, mate?"

This time, it was her who lowered her smaller ears; she also diverted her gaze from him, as if in shame. Never in a million years had she thought she would let this so-called 'sensitivity' wash her over. "I don't know anybody who likes me."

"For real?"

"No, I'm making this story up just so I can spend the time." She frowned at him. "Of course I'm being serious, you dummy. I _wish_ it was all made up."

"Don't you have a family back in your island?"

Amelia decided to change position and sat on the bed. "Kind of," she sighed. "We don't talk to each other for quite some time. My family is not as united as yours."

"Sorry to hear that." He replied apologetically.

"It's okay."

Then, without warning, Crash began to stretch his arms upward, his yawn so loud that it echoed the room. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm bloody sleepy," he adjusted his pillow before he could lie down in a comfortable position, and yawned again. "I think it's best if we start sleeping now."

 _Crap_ , she bit her lower lip. Uptight, she rose from the bed as if some bug had stung her in the rear end, her hands fumbling inside the satchel. _Kill him now, damn it! Just grab the knife and stab him in the large neck! You'll finally get rid of Cortex and–_

She couldn't do it. She was tired, she hadn't slept in over a day and the sleep was rapidly taking her over. But most of all, after that little conversation took over, she unintentionally grew fond of Crash, as if he were her only true friend; which was kind of sad, really.

"You coming, Ame?"

Without options, Amelia sat again on the bed, confused and frustrated. But, before she had a chance to lie down, Crash suddenly grasped the female bandicoot by the waist, pulling her close to him.

"What are you doing?!"

"Relax," he closed his eyes. "You look too tense."

"I'm not tense."

"Shh," he gently placed a finger on her lips. "Forget all your problems. Learn to appreciate the silence; there is no one in this motel except you, me and the lady downstairs. Enjoy it while you can; sleep."

And a few moments later, he did fall asleep, so sudden and smooth like a summer breeze.

With her face surprisingly close to his, Amelia felt for the first time the touch of Crash's fur. Short and fuzzy, yet so cozy and warm that she couldn't help but bury her own nose in his chest. His arms stayed around her waist, which not only provided the heat she needed but the comfort she always wanted; and the fact that he smelled like strawberry shampoo instead of a stray dog only made the situation feel more like a dream.

Was that what people used to call 'love'?

Nah. Probably not.

* * *

The exact time of the night was unknown, but the fact that Crunch's room was illuminated by the moonlight was enough to startle Coco, who at first thought that it was all due to her most recent nightmare. Gradually, she began to remember every single event that happened before and after she met Amelia, with strong headaches taking her over. Dizzy from the shot, Coco slowly got up from the top of Crunch's back and placed a hand on the wall to balance her body, looking around the room to see the damage results of their fight.

"Crunch!" Frightened, Coco shook the burgundy bandicoot. "Crunch, wake up!"

Fortunately for her, he moved his head and, after helping him to get up from the floor, she gave him time to recover himself.

"I know I'm going to sound like a broken record, but..." puzzled, he spoke. "What happened again?"

"I'm scared, Crunch..." for the first time in years, Coco seemed just as confused as him. "This is the second time that happens to us in a row! It's like someone is playing a vicious prank on us and I can't figure out who it is!"

"What is the last thing you remember?"

Coco tried to keep her calm in order to concentrate. "The very last thing I seem to remember well is when Crash introduced Amelia to us."

"That rat," he growled. "I knew there was something suspicious about her... where is he?"

"Now that you mention it, I don't see Crash since he ate lunch." She remarked. "I know almost certainly that he went to paint the door right after that... oh no..."

"And then that creature attacked us," Crunch added. "I remember everything; the night she attacked him, the hour he went missing and when we got drunk, it all makes sense now. She wanted him all to herself so that she could murder him."

A chill ran down Coco's spine; however, she maintained her logical side. "If that's the case, then where are they?"

"That's the problem," he said. "We have no idea where they can be at this hour of the night. She never gave us any indication whatsoever as to what she was going to do with Crash, so they might be somewhere near or somewhere far... preferably the latter."

"Wait," Coco raised her finger. "In order to go somewhere considerably far, they must've used a vehicle to travel, right?"

"Let's check the garage."

Without wasting another second, Coco and Crunch headed to the garage as fast as they could. When they finally opened the door and stepped inside to check on all the vehicles, the blonde bandicoot immediately noticed something.

"Crash's motorcycle... it's missing!"

"Makes sense," he folded his muscular arms. "It's a fast and lightweight vehicle, despite the fact that it makes a lot of noise."

Suddenly, silence. Crunch looked at Coco as if looking for immediate answers.

"Well?"

"...Not everything's lost." She thought out loud.

"What do you mean?"

"Come with me," she held his metallic hand. "I'll explain everything there."

The two apprehensive marsupials then proceeded to Coco's room, where she turned on her pink laptop and wrote so fast that even Crunch wondered how she didn't break the keyboard. After performing a series of computer tasks, Coco eventually showed him a digital map of N. Sanity Island and all its roads, with a red dot on it.

"Years ago, when Crash and I had to search for crystals in different time periods, I put a tracking device on his motorcycle," she enlightened. "This means that no matter where he goes, we at least know the location of his vehicle. Apparently, it's parked at the entrance of a motel on the other side of the island... that takes us two hours to get there."

"Two hours?!" Before he could add anything else, Coco interrupted him.

" _If_ we go by the highway, otherwise it'll take us double the time."

"Can't we go in your spaceship to get there faster?"

"No," she shook her head. "It's not fixed yet."

"Great, so what can we do? If we bring the jeep, we have to constantly refuel it and that thing can't go faster than 110 mph. Crash's glider has two seats, but with our weight, it won't even lift off into the air... now we're in a dead end, sister."

Discouraged, Coco got up from the chair and walked in circles for a few minutes, thinking about what she could do to circumvent the situation. She sat again and began to write more information on the keyboard, the sound of the keys grasping Crunch's attention.

"What are you doing?"

"There must be something about that assassin we don't know," she said. "Something that we can use to our advantage... hold on, I'm going to infiltrate in Cortex's database."

"You can access to Cortex's data that easily?"

"Duh," she rolled her eyes. "You're talking to someone who has an I.Q. of 164."

"No need to brag about it," he scoffed.

"Crunch, look at this!"

It was Amelia's file. As they expected, it had all the information about her, from her physical features and skills to her subjection to the Evolvo-Ray; but the section of the file that caught their curiosity the most was the fact that she, after all, _did_ have a family.

"Interesting," Coco avowed. "It seems that Amelia has siblings, two twin brothers by the names of Roderick and Riddick... they're triplets!"

"So?" Crunch frowned. "What kind of advantage does that give to us?"

"None," she kept on reading. "However, these two apparently are pilots from the N. Sanity Air Force."

"Wait, we have an air force?"

"I'm just as dumbfounded as you are," she added. "But that's not important; if we want to save Crash as quickly as possible, these pilots seem to be the answer."

"That's fine and dandy, but how are we going to contact them?" He asked. "I highly doubt that the Air Force is going to arrest an assassin who isn't even a national threat."

"We have to try, Crunch." She pleaded. "Crash needs our help and we're not going to cross our arms and wait for the situation to solve itself." After she managed to obtain the number of the service branch, Coco snapped her fingers. "Crunch, give me the phone. I'll be the first to speak to them."

He obeyed, and as soon as the blonde bandicoot got a hold of the phone, she inhaled, expelled all of the air she had in her lungs, and showed a determined face.

"We're going to rescue Crash, and that's final."


	10. Showdown

**Chapter 10**

A wonderful dream he dreamt, as Crash remained lying down on his favorite hammock in complete peacefulness, just outside his home at N. Sanity Beach. The sun was already setting, but the warm air was so present that even the wind blowing on his face was a nice addition to the picture, feeling more comfortable than ever. He was so deep into the dream that even the sensations he felt were real, as not only the general coziness made him feel like he was in the clouds but also the aliveness of the experience – the birds were singing, the water was going back and forth on the sand, the pollution was finally gone from the sky with no sight of Cortex and his minions anywhere... everything was perfect.

Until he opened his eyes in that brief moment.

At first, it was so insignificant that he closed his eyes and almost did fall asleep for the second time, until he stirred his head and felt a tuft underneath his chin. His hands, which were on top of someone's waist, went up a few centimeters and unexpectedly touched something that seemed to be... hair.

Hair? Wasn't he sleeping alone?

Crash opened his eyes again, slowly and heavily due to the sleep. The room would've been considered pitch-black if it weren't for the moonlight, but fortunately for the male bandicoot, his eyes were particularly good at capturing hues, even at such conditions. He continued examining this strange body that was dangerously close to his, with its arms bent against his chest and its legs intertwined with his, and finally noticed that the true color of the hair was actually red.

Red? Tawna didn't have red hair, she was blonde; she also was taller, so there was no way she could have her head resting under his chin without having a serious case of torticollis. Her breast was larger, too, so he shouldn't be feeling this empty space between them–

 _Oh... no..._

His blood turned to ice. Crash screamed, as he jumped from the bed and fell to the carpeted floor, crawling backwards in direction to the wall. The shock was so great that he not only lost the ability to speak, but he also was hyperventilating, staring at the suddenly familiar figure before him as if he had seen a ghost.

The creature that was sleeping next to him was, indeed, the murderous assassin lady.

With a hot potato in his hands, Crash decided that it was time to flee. He hastily removed his leather jacket from the hat rack and put on his trademark sneakers before opening the door, coming to a full stop when he reached the stairs. How she didn't wake up after hearing his scream remained a mystery, but at least he was relieved to know that his zipper was untouched.

* * *

"How long do we have to wait here?"

"Shut up, N. Gin," N. Tropy whispered. "Do you want the cops to find us?"

"You could take them out."

"I could, if it weren't for the fact that we're working in secrecy," he added. "And that darn female doesn't answer our call."

"Look, there he is!"

Hiding inside a bush on the other side of the road, the master of time and the short-structured cyborg finally saw Crash leaving the motel in an incredible hurry. With his motorcycle parked right in front of the building, the bandicoot ran towards the vehicle while simultaneously trying to pick up the keys from his pocket and, when he did, he dived straight onto the seat.

"Come on, come on," after placing the key into the ignition and trying to switch it on several times, Crash's motorcycle wasn't willing to start working. "Oh for heaven's sake, of all times like these, why did you have to cark it now?!"

"Somebody's in trouble," watching from afar, N. Tropy smirked. "Change of plans, N. Gin; let's attack him now."

"Yes sir."

Leaving the bush without making a sound, the two scientists decided to put their plan into action. When they were already crossing the road and Crash was focused in making his two-wheeled vehicle work, the homeless man, who happened to be lying unconscious a meter away from the marsupial, eventually woke up.

"Gosh, what a brick..." he remarked, his head throbbing. A middle-aged human male with a thick accent, his clothes and gloves were all torn and, aside from the fact that he didn't take a bath for over a year, his teeth was rotten and yellow, in contrast to his bulky white beard. A nearly empty bottle was also lying next to his hand. "Now where did I put my wine...?"

In the moment he turned his face at the road, the image of N. Tropy and N. Gin approaching their target like some professional agents startled the sleepy old man's mind, since it wasn't what he actually pictured.

"A WALKING FORK!" He yelled.

Finally brought to reality thanks to the man's melodramatic scream, Crash turned his head. "What the–"

 _SWOOSH!_ The beam from N. Tropy's tuning fork stroke the bandicoot so hard that he was projected against the outer wall of the building, letting the motorcycle fall against the ground with the keys still attached. Feeling like he had been shot from a taser, Crash groaned in pain, unable to move due to his straining muscles. The vagrant, however, despite having no idea what was going on and being at the wrong place at the wrong time, couldn't ignore the situation.

"Die, you little skunk." N. Tropy laughed.

"Stay away from him, you bloody elf!" The man shouted, as he grasped the wine bottle and hit directly at Tropy's head, breaking it to pieces. The blue-skinned doctor then fell to the ground with his tuning fork by his side and a tremendous headache, his hand on his temple.

"Be careful where you head that thing, you imbecile!" He exclaimed.

"I got him, I got him!" After spotting a bough twice his size on the ground, N. Gin strenuously dragged the object and held it in the air to strike the vagrant on his back, until Crash laid his eyes on him.

"Look out!"

It was only a margin of a second or two, but the man surprisingly managed to dodge the stocky cyborg's weapon and rolled to the right, making N. Gin stumble and the large bough fly towards N. Tropy – needless to say, the master of time couldn't help but give a girly scream when the branches almost jabbed him in the eyes.

"N. Gin, you fool!" He shouted, as he tried to take the heavy bough off him. "Can't you do anything right?!"

With his muscles back to normal and the cyborg still pasted to the concrete, Crash rose up and quickly lifted the bike off the ground, trying to switch it on one more time. As soon as he heard the sweet, noisy sound of the engine, his prayers have finally been answered.

"Yes!" He grinned. "Oh baby, how I've missed you," he patted the vehicle, triumphant. However, before he had the chance to get out of that place, he looked at the vagrant, incapable of leaving him there between two psychotic lunatics.

"Come with me if you want to live!" Crash warned, gesturing him to sit on the backseat. The man, although perplexed, didn't hesitate to do so in order to escape the death-defying situation and, when he did, his weight almost flattened the small motorcycle.

"Hold on tight!" With the wheels rolling at last, the two finally drove off into the distance.

As the dust dispersed through the air, N. Gin raised his head. "Doctor, they're getting away!"

"Then what are you waiting for?" Still stuck beneath the bough, N. Tropy glared at him. "Do not stand there looking at the flies, go get the mech, you ignoramus!"

And so, without a choice, the clumsy yet exhausted N. Gin went all the way back to bring the so-called mech as fast as he could, albeit leaning in one side due to the huge missile he had lodged in his brain.

* * *

 _Ring! Ring!_

Starting to draw closer into consciousness, Amelia rolled to the other side of the bed. It was 3:05 in the morning according to the alarm clock, but oddly enough, the annoying continuous sound wasn't coming from the device itself – rather, it seemed to come directly from Amelia's satchel on her bedside table. The female bandicoot huffed, since she had to interrupt her beautiful dream against her will, and eventually picked up her walkie-talkie out of the satchel.

However, moments before she could answer the transmission, she noticed that Crash was long gone from the room.

"Oh are you kidding me...!"

The walkie-talkie rang again. Instead of speaking with Cortex and getting another good whopping sermon of his, Amelia got up from the bed, put on her boots, wore her short jacket and rearranged her hair while looking at a mirror, and then brought her satchel before she reached the door. She was ready to leave the motel room until she heard what seemed to be a noise similar to the one of a spaceship engine, rushing to the window to see if her hearing abilities were in check.

And in the end, she was right, as she not only recognized N. Gin's mech hovering above the road but also saw the smug Nefarious Tropy getting inside as well, with the fiery motorcycle nowhere to be seen.

"(They must be after Crash,)" she thought. "(I'm going to follow them.)"

Without wasting another second, Amelia ran down the stairs and flew towards the entrance – with the desk clerk's mind in another world thanks to the fact that she was wearing headphones – and, when she finally got outside, the mech had already departed, its velocity so great that she was only able to see two dazzling red lights at the horizon. It was obvious that they wouldn't invite her to the party.

"Damn!" Standing in the middle of the road, Amelia clenched her teeth. "I knew I should've brought my spaceship... now what?"

Fortunately, it didn't take long for her luck to start changing. During the first two minutes she spent thinking about her next plan in the cold of the night, a distinguishable horn was heard from afar. Amelia turned around, only to have a pleasant surprise when she sighted an approaching tank truck with some powerful headlights, carrying what seemed to be gasoline, which eventually stopped a few hundred meters away from her.

"Oy!" The human driver shouted, his head out of the window. "Can you please get out of the way? I don't know what you are, but I don't want to run you over."

Amelia smirked at the opportunity. This was just too perfect.

"Sorry, handsome, but unless you give me that pretty truck of yours, I'm not going to move a foot." She folded her arms.

Impatient, the driver scowled at her. "Fine, then!" He scoffed, gripping the steering wheel. "I don't have time for this, I'm already late for work and I'm not letting some field rat stop me."

Offended at his statement, Amelia growled. She began to expose her long sharp claws before jumping onto the front of the truck, as she climbed all the way to the windshield without any effort. The man winced in horror, as he attempted to open the door so that he could jump out of the vehicle, but the female marsupial furiously grabbed his shirt first.

"Call me _rat_ one more time, and I'll cut your guts."

She pushed him out of the truck. As soon as the driver unmercifully fell to the dirt road, he screamed, and ran for his life until he found shelter in the motel. At last, Amelia closed the door, adjusted her seat so that she could reach the shifting gears, and finally put her hands on the steering wheel.

"Time to return the favor." She remarked.

* * *

Riding in the opposite direction, on the main road back to N. Sanity Beach, Crash and the vagrant managed to foil the two henchmen by some extreme twist of fate. With their time running out, and the adrenaline pumping through his body, Crash grasped the accelerators as hard as he could, with the motorcycle's two turbos almost bursting into flames due to the pressure. The vagrant, who clearly didn't have fur like his animal friend, was shaking cold, his hands holding Crash's stomach in such force that the bandicoot was getting out of air, and the wind was so aggressive that they could've sworn that the bike would fly.

"What the hell is going on?!" The man asked.

"It's a long story!" Crash shouted, since the noise was baffling their voices. "I'll explain you later!"

"And what the heck are you?" He examined him with a frown. "Are you a mouse? Fox? ...Kangaroo?"

"I'm Crash!" He replied. "Crash Bandicoot!"

"Crash Bandi what?"

"Bandicoot!"

"Band what?!"

Unable to elucidate him otherwise, Crash gave up. "Never mind! I'm just a mutant who knows those two scientists personally and that I'm going to leave you somewhere safe!"

"Mutant? _Scientists_?" He widened his eyes. "What has the world come into?!"

"I know it seems complicated, but trust me, mister..." he hesitated. "May I ask what your name is?"

"J-Jack!" He gritted his teeth due to the freezing wind. "My name is Jack!"

"Jack, I'm asking you to stay calm, okay? Everything's under control!"

"I-I hope so!" He agreed.

A few minutes later, the inevitable came. As N. Gin's spaceship-like mech began to draw closer and closer to the two fugitives, Crash glanced through the side-view mirror to take a look at the machine, his eyebrows raised at such monstrosity. This was not going to end well.

"He he he he he!" The red-haired cyborg laughed madly, contrasting to the completely stoic N. Tropy sitting by his side. "I've been waiting for this moment all my life! We're hunting some good bandicoot tonight, baby!"

"Now it's the dwarf that's chasing us?!" Jack's mouth hanged open. "What are we gonna do, Crash?"

"Keep holding me!"

Crash grasped the accelerators even harder, in order to gain more speed and more time, but the motorcycle was starting to break. The fuel was running low, the turbos were so hot that if it weren't for the wind Jack's loose pants would've already caught on fire, and the combined weight of the two was not helping the situation in the slightest.

"Why aren't we going faster?!" Jack insisted.

"The bike is too heavy!" Crash exclaimed. "We're slowing down!"

With the speed drastically decreasing, N. Gin's mech had to slow its speed as well. "Doctor, would you like to do the honors?" He looked at N. Tropy.

"With pleasure."

Much to the bandicoot's distress, the master of time grasped his notorious tuning fork and opened the side window of the cockpit to start shooting beams at their direction, to which Crash had to do some amazing maneuvers to dodge them – unfortunately, it was only the beginning.

"Darn it!" N. Tropy cussed. "I can't hit them! N. Gin, open fire!"

"Yes sir!"

The lasers of the mech then began to shoot balls of energy toward the enemy, and both Crash and Jack had no choice but to keep dodging them, even when the balls were so big that the motorcycle had to go through the bumpy roadside before returning to the road. For the first time in forever, Crash was running out of options – he thought of going through the dry rangeland in order to mislead them, but the very few trees were so far apart from each other that finding an impressive obstacle would be considered impossible... until, by chance, he spotted an enormous tree right in the middle of the field.

"Change of plans, Jack!" Crash briefly turned his head at him. "Hang on!"

In the moment he unexpectedly left the road and went through the open country, N. Gin followed him blindly. The cyborg was having so much fun in trying to annihilate the marsupial with his new toy that he didn't even question why he had suddenly changed course, while N. Tropy, on the other hand, sank into the seat with a severe case of allergy due to the clouds of dust. When the motorcycle finally reached the tree at a safe distance, Crash turned to the right – and the mech with only a few hundred meters of space between them.

"A TREE!" N. Tropy squealed. "Turn to the right, N. Gin, turn to the right!"

Luckily, N. Gin managed to maneuver the spacecraft just in time to avoid the collision and, despite buying a few more seconds, the bandicoot and the vagrant were still within their range. With the bike dying out and the two scientists alive and kicking, Crash was starting to get desperate, his mind so distressed that he didn't even notice an iron pipe lying on the road.

"Crash, watch ou–!"

 _TING!_ The front tire blew out, the motorcycle was projected forward and Crash and Jack flew out of the vehicle, as they dragged through the tarry road about twenty to thirty meters away from it. Lying sideways on the ground, Crash soon woke up with his head wobbling and a fresh wound on his forehead, his leather jacket and jeans slightly ripped due to the impact, with tar marks on them. After sighting his bike motionless on the road, Crash hurried to help his human acquaintance.

"Jack! Jack, are you alright?" Worried, he knelt down to look at him.

"I came good!" Against all odds, Jack ended up in one piece, with only a few scratches and fortunately no serious wounds. "I'll be stuffed, that was the best ride I ever had in my life!"

Crash couldn't help but smile. The man was indeed a crazy old fool, but at least he wasn't badly hurt.

" _You..._ "

Even though it was only for a split second, Crash's ears managed to catch a not-so-distant mutter, recognizing the voice. He was about to turn his head to see the individual behind him until the own Nefarious Tropy grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, lifting the bandicoot off the ground so that he could meet the scientist's blood-red eyes. Their height difference was so significant that although Crash was five feet and three inches, N. Tropy was double the size, which made him a giant by comparison.

"Let me go!" He ordered, as he fought back to get loose of his grip.

Jack startled, since he wasn't expecting the blue-skinned scientist to arrive so soon, but when he did get up to help Crash, N. Gin impeded the vagrant by grasping his leg, which made him fall again to the ground.

"Your time is up, runt," N. Tropy snarled. "I'm tired of playing little games with you, so instead of bringing you to Doctor Cortex, I decided to end your miserable life." Smiling viciously, he raised his tuning fork. "Don't worry, I'll be merciful... this time."

Accepting his fate, Crash forcefully closed his eyes, as the master of time raised his weapon even higher in order to slam the bandicoot right in the skullcap, this until a peculiar horn was heard in the distance.

"What was that?" N. Gin asked.

N. Tropy froze. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't stupid enough to ignore the fact that it was the horn of a very large truck, and it was coming towards them at an astonishing speed, as the road was already illuminated halfway thanks to the headlights.

"N. Gin, go into the mech, now!"

Frustrated for not being able to get rid of his furry enemy in that moment, N. Tropy angrily threw Crash in direction to the field before hurrying to the spacecraft. To his dismay, however, his cyborg companion was already inside the cockpit, with the lasers pointed at the incoming tank truck.

"N. GIN, NO!" Frantic, N. Tropy shook his arms. "DON'T DO IT! YOU'LL GET US KILLE–"

 _BOOM!_

And as the truck exploded, Crash remained almost unconscious on the roadside.


	11. IMPORTANT NOTICE

Hey guys, I'm still alive!

Before any of you ask why I uploaded a notice instead of a full chapter, there are a few things I want to say in advance regarding the fate of this fanfic. First of all, I've become bored with the current plot, which as you know was improvised from the beginning. It turns out that it wasn't the direction I wanted for this story, not only because I didn't find it nearly as funny as the original (yes, the one with the broken English) but also because the plot itself is all over the place. So after months of thinking, I've decided that I'm going to completely rewrite this story, except for the first two chapters, in order to make it more similar to the original and hopefully a little funnier. I even wrote the whole summary of the new plot, with a few twists here and there to make it more interesting.

Second, I'm really sorry for cutting this fanfic so shortly after two years, but rest assured that I'm not going to give it up anytime soon. In fact, I won't even need to make a separate story; I'll just upload the same chapters again (but with different titles) with the new version once they're ready. Unfortunately, I don't have as much free time as I used to have years ago, so please be patient with my infrequent updates.

Thank you for your understanding!

Yours truly,

 _MissDSanti_


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